Compassion for an Evil Twin
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: After saving his evil counterpart from a fatal situation, Tails learns that there's more to Miles than he once thought, and Miles, separated from the Suppression Squad, considers taking his chance to join Sonic's side at long last.
1. Chapter 1

After putting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher, Tails heard the sound of a child screaming in pain from a distance, and immediately looked up at the cliff across from his house in the direction of the sound. Shocked and bewildered, he exclaimed, " Anti-Tails?! "

Three criminals wearing leather jackets had ganged up on Anti-Tails menacingly, and while Tails could barely make it out from the distance he was watching, his evil counterpart looked frightened as the criminals had him pinned to the ground attacking him, using a baseball bat, a crowbar, and a small switchblade against him. Tails was frozen in fear, terrified at seeing what was happening to him. He wanted to save him, if only for the sake of saving a life, but he was worried that flying up to them would be too risky, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it to him in time.

Eventually, one of the criminals forced the bruised and cut-up Miles to a sitting position holding him still, and soon the criminal across from him ran at him holding something small and grabbed his arm to thrust it into it. If Tails was closer to the scene, he would've seen that it was a syringe full of tranquilizer meant to subdue him.

Miles panicked and tried to fight back as hard as he could while being held still from behind, using his tails as weapons as he was forced to stand up, but his movements soon became sluggish and weak as he had to force his eyes to stay open. Suddenly, the criminal across from him shouted something angrily that Tails couldn't make out, and Miles was punched in the face so hard that he fell backwards off the edge of the cliff behind him, with the reactions of the criminals being one of smug satisfaction.

Panicked at seeing his injured evil counterpart plummeting unconscious towards the ocean, Tails gasped, ran to the beach beneath where he would land as fast as he could, and dived into the ocean after him in an impulse.

Tails grabbed his hands as he sank away from him, and started spinning his tails above him like a propeller, flying out of the water carrying both his and Miles' weight and bringing his bruised and bleeding counterpart out of it just in time, and started gasping for air as soon as he broke the surface.

After flying until he was just above the sandy beach, he let go of Miles' hands and saw him limply drop to the ground unconscious. Tails gasped, and kneeled on the sand in front of him and examined him in a panic. Lying on his back with an unhappy expression and his eyes closed in unconsciousness, Miles had three very noticeable wounds; a long cut along his left tail, a small but deep cut on the side of his left hand leaving his glove torn, and a third cut across the top of his right hand with the same effect. All three of the cuts were steadily bleeding at a thankfully slow rate, which had caused the water Miles sank into to be stained red with his blood. He was covered in bruises, dirt, and grass stains, and was dripping wet from head to toe, with the usually neat black tuft of hair on his head drooping downwards from the seawater and nearly covering his left eye.

Scared and trying to remain calm, Tails stammered, " M-Miles? " Despite his mouth being ever so slightly opened, Miles didn't seem to be breathing. He was lying on his back on the beach completely motionless and silent. Worried, Tails placed his hand on the middle of Miles' chest, trying not to press too hard against it and impede his breathing, and while he was relieved to feel a heartbeat from him, discovering for certain that he wasn't breathing caused panic to overwhelm him. " No! No! " he exclaimed, and desperately pushed against the middle of his chest with his hand facing sideways, and started pounding on it with his fist using his other hand. After five seconds with no results, Tails became desperate enough to force him to reflexively cough by lightly hitting the front of his soaking wet neck, trying to go easy on him to avoid hurting him, and to his relief, it worked, forcing Miles to cough up some water as the blood returned to his head from the chest compression. With his mouth finally clear of water, he started breathing again at last, his chest rising and falling slightly beneath Tails' hands, still showing no signs of waking up. " _Oh, thank goodness! It worked!_ " Tails thought, glad that his desperate method hadn't backfired on him.

But then his attention returned to his cuts. If he didn't get treatment for them soon, they would continue bleeding until he went into fatal shock, rendering all of his efforts to save him pointless. This was especially problematic because Miles was showing no signs of returning to consciousness any time soon, and Tails couldn't risk him losing too much blood by waiting for him to wake up so he could convince him to come home with him of his own will. Tails sighed reluctantly, and thought, " _I can't believe I'm doing this for my evil twin, but… I can't let him die! If he ended up dying because of me, I'd… I'd never forgive myself… You owe me big time, Miles. I hope you'll appreciate this._ "

With that, he got into the process of lifting his cold limp counterpart into his arms, by slightly turning his legs over before placing his left hand underneath his knees and pushing them back with the other hand, lifting them up from beneath now that they were being held in his arm. With his other arm at around the same time, he pushed the side of Miles' chest to turn him slightly on his side, placed it beneath him and started lifting him up by his back. Holding him up by the back of the knees and his back, he made sure he supported his neck by having Miles' head resting against his shoulder, and with that, he started spinning his tails behind him vertically and ran to his house with his injured counterpart in his arms, moving at over 530 miles per hour slightly hovering above the ground. He was worried about the possibility of his fast movement agitating Miles' injuries, but he wanted to get him home and stop his bleeding as fast as possible.

Rushing into his house on top of the hill in the Mystic Ruins, Tails lowered Miles to the couch carefully and pulled his arms away from beneath him, regretful that he would make the couch wet and stained from Miles' soaking wet and bleeding body, but believing that putting him on the floor would be too callous.

Overwhelmed from having so many different things he needed to do for Miles at once, Tails tried not to panic as he lifted Miles' legs up to push a pillow beneath them, elevating them along with his tails, which were resting on top of his legs limply. He knew that elevating his legs would increase the amount of blood in his heart and make sure there was more blood getting to his vital organs, helping with shock if he had any, and would decrease the amount of bleeding from his tail as a result of the decreased amount of blood going to it.

Trying to properly prioritize his actions while in a hurry, Tails was deep in thought with an upset expression as he ran in a yellow blur to his washroom cabinet from the living room hallway, opened it up to take out the First Aid Kit, pulled a towel off the rack and rushed to Miles' side with them in his hands, dropped the towel in front of the couch for later use and opened the First Aid Kit placing it on the floor right in front of the couch.

Deciding to stop the bleeding first and foremost, Tails grabbed a bottle of anti-bleeding powder, held it upside-down facing cotton balls and started shaking it so that powder fell out of the holes in its lid onto them, and immediately grabbed each of the two cotton balls with each of his hands and started holding them against the cuts in Miles' hands for four seconds until he felt the bleeding stop beneath them. Tossing the used cotton balls over his shoulder cringing at how they were stained red, Tails grabbed the powdered cotton balls that he hadn't yet used with both hands and quickly held it against the wound on Miles' left tail, which was slashed to have a long cut in it that required multiple cotton balls to treat. After holding them against his tail for four seconds and tossing them over his shoulder, Tails thought with concern, " _How could someone do this?... Thank goodness I got to him! I don't wanna think about what would have happened if I hadn't been there…_ "

Having finished getting his bleeding to stop, Tails proceeded to twist the lid off a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, pour it onto some more cotton balls, pick up two of them and start holding them against the cuts on Miles' hands, looking at his expression to see if the stinging pain of his cuts being disinfected would wake him up. It didn't, although he could subconsciously feel it, his face looking stressed and on edge, and Tails wondered if it was affecting his dreams, if he had indeed started dreaming in his passed out state. He seemed to have bags under his eyes, with his eyes looking sunken from beneath, indicating that he hadn't gotten enough sleep, and Tails wondered if him being tired was what contributed to him being injured and thrown off the cliff so easily from a simple gang ambushing him, and if his lack of sleep was part of why he stayed unconscious for so long despite the blood being sent to his head.

After tossing the used cotton balls onto the table to be discarded properly later, Tails brought the rest of the disinfectant-covered cotton balls to the long cut across Miles' tail, and disinfected it with a worried look before tossing the rest of the cotton balls onto the table. He picked up the roll of bandages from the First Aid Kit, pulled it and the bandage in opposite directions to get a long roll of bandages ready, used scissors on the bandage to cut it free and lifted up Miles' tail from beneath to wrap the bandage around its cut until it was covered.

With Miles' tail properly treated, resting on top of his legs above the other tail with the entire middle part of it wrapped in bandages, Tails looked over at the cuts on his hands, and had to hold back a groan of unhappiness, knowing it would be difficult to pull off Miles' dripping wet gloves and shirt so that he could dry off properly. Pulling off his shirt especially would be a difficult task, considering he wouldn't be making it easier for him and he was worried about waking him up by doing so, and the fact that the shirt was a turtleneck made it worse, as the neck part of it would have to be pulled at from both ends from the inside to get it over his head.

Being careful around the spikes of Miles' black bracelets, Tails slowly and gently pulled off his left glove one finger at a time starting from the one nearest to him, and when he finally pulled the glove off holding the tips of the fingers with his hand, he gasped at seeing what was beneath it.

He had never seen a hand so scarred in his entire life. It was covered in the old remains of years-old cuts scattered in every different direction, to the point where Tails was reluctant to see the rest of it, and he could've sworn he saw the remains of years-old burn marks as well.

After five seconds of staring at the hand in stunned silence, Tails reluctantly lifted it up from beneath and held it by the fingers as he wrapped a bandage around it, dressing the wound on the side of it with a devastated expression. He couldn't believe he had suffered so many injuries to his hand in his young life. Even if he was working in a criminal gang, he still had a hand that was far too rough and cracked for his age, to the point where it was clear that the injuries had been systematically done on purpose by someone with vicious intent. " _I hope it wasn't Scourge…_ " he thought.

After he finished bandaging his left hand, he dreaded seeing the other one, and reluctantly pulled off his glove by the fingers and revealed that it was even more scarred than the first, although it was hard to tell, as a fresh wound was right across the top of it potentially blocking his view of even more scars and attracting all of his attention right away. Lifting up his limp hand from beneath the fingers, he wrapped the last of the bandages he needed around it, using scissors to cut the bandage short after finishing up with it and pulling it away from his hand.

Tails then proceeded to place the roll of bandages back in the First Aid Kit, take advantage of his speed to quickly discard all of the used cotton balls in the nearby trash bin using napkins, and hesitated for a moment before getting to removing his wet cold clothes.

Upon closer examination, he discovered that he could flip a tiny switch in Miles' spiked bracelets to make the spikes fold into the bracelet and become harmless to him, and found that rather convenient. After that, he pulled each bracelet from opposite ends to stretch them out and pull them over his hands to remove them. Hoping that Miles wouldn't be too annoyed with him upon waking up without them, Tails placed them on the table and got to work pulling Miles' distinctive red shirt off. He lifted up his shirt from the front of his chest and lifted him up from beneath his upper back slightly to fully pull it away from his torso, lifted his right arm almost all the way up to help with getting it out of the sleeve and gently placing the arm on the couch afterwards, and repeating the same with his left arm, incredibly thankful for his shirt being loose on him rather than tight because it made removing it easier.

Finally, he carefully pulled the neck part of his shirt from both ends to stretch it out and pulled his shirt over his head as fast as he possibly could getting it off him in a hurry, and finally removed the shirt at last, sighing in relief at the ordeal being over without Miles even stirring, too exhausted and weakened from blood loss to wake up. He was lying on the couch without his shirt soaking wet, with the dyed black tuft of hair on his head drooping from all the water and having the seawater running down his face as a result.

After quickly leaving the room with the wet shirt and gloves, putting them in the dryer and then returning to Miles' side, Tails pulled off his boots one at a time and brought them to the side of the couch, picked up the soft towel from the floor at last, and toweled him down from head to toe starting with his head, trying to at least dry off the front and sides of his body. He was very careful and gentle about drying his face with the towel, not wanting to risk waking him up as he dried off his forehead, cheeks and chin. By the time he started drying off his legs, he had to use the other side of the towel to dry him off because it had become too wet on the side he was using.

With Miles still looking wet, but not nearly as much as before, Tails examined him again, wondering if there was anything else he needed to do for him. Looking at his exposed fingers showed that his skin was pale, and he laid on the couch completely silent and motionless, causing Tails to lightly place his hand on his chest to check his breathing rate and discover how weak, infrequent, and slow it was, with Miles taking several seconds for a single weak breath. Getting worried that his oxygen intake wasn't enough, his eyes darted around nervously for a few seconds until he noticed a lotion called Vix Vapo Rub in the First Aid Kit, in a container shaped like a half-circle with a flat base. Reading its label revealed that it would help facilitate respiration in someone struggling with it.

After untwisting and pulling off its lid, Tails pulled off his right glove removing the black cufflink on it to do so, and after a second of uncomfortable hesitation, he reluctantly covered the palm of his hand with the lotion before gently rubbing it over Miles' chest underneath the fur, thinking awkwardly, " _I can't believe I'm doing this for him,_ " and hoping he wouldn't wake up at that exact moment. Tails' hands had their own share of scars to them that he couldn't for the life of him remember the origin of, but he didn't have nearly as many scars as Miles did, and he wondered whether or not he should try to find out from him where Miles' came from. Knowing him, he might refuse to tell him for being his enemy; in fact, Tails had a hard time imagining Miles being anything but difficult to work with as soon as he woke up to his arch nemesis trying to nurse him back to health. As a result, Tails was caught between a mixture of gratitude at him being asleep and anxiety and impatience at it, knowing that he wouldn't be able to give him food and water in the state he was in and that his prolonged unconsciousness by itself was cause for concern.

After successfully covering Miles' chest with Vapo Rub and using a towel to remove the residue lotion from the fur above it, he ran in a yellow blur to the washroom with the towel, removed his left glove, and started washing his hands of the clearly scented lotion with soap and water, being in a hurry because he didn't want Miles to wake up without him around; he still didn't trust him alone in his house, and he wanted to be there right away to tell him that he helped him. After seven nerve-wracking seconds, Tails dried off his hands with a dry towel, picked up the red bathrobe hanging on the door, got dry gloves for himself from his bedroom cabinet, and rushed to Miles' side once again.

Still frantically worried, Tails examined him again with his hand on his chest, and was relieved that he was breathing better while still being worried. As he put the slightly warm bathrobe on Miles, he lifted him up at various points to put his arms in the sleeves and make sure that all of his back was covered by it, and once he had finished putting a warm dry bathrobe on Miles, he covered him over with the soft blankets on the other end of the couch to warm him up, and waited for him to regain consciousness while holding back tears taking deep breaths to calm himself down, hoping for the best.

He was dreading him waking up, but at the same time, he couldn't stand him remaining unconscious and incapacitated and worrying him even further. The wait was nearly unbearable, but he had to allow him to wake up on his own, as a rude awakening would give a negative first impression that might overshadow everything he did to help him.

Minutes later, Miles finally began to stir in his sleep, the scent of the Vix Vapo Rub on his chest working as well as smelling salts to bring him back to his senses. He moaned miserably, and squeezed his eyes more tightly shut to better endure the pain of his injuries, awakening to stinging cuts and aching bruises on every part of his body while Tails fidgeted in anxiety waiting for one of his worst enemies to wake up and negatively respond to his act of compassion.

As he slowly regained consciousness, his senses returned to him, flooding him with new information. The stinging cuts on his tail and hands were bandaged and had stopped their bleeding, which he noticed as soon as he tried to move them. He was lying on his back on a comfortable couch covered in soft warm blankets with his legs having a firm pillow underneath them, making sure they were elevated to a higher position than his head. His entire body felt soaking wet, as if he had recently showered, but at the same time, he wasn't as dripping wet as he could be, as if the front of his body had been toweled off. His shirt, bracelets, boots and gloves had been removed with his shirt replaced with a warm and soft bathrobe that reached all the way down to covering his knees. It felt like there was familiar lotion on his chest that had a strong scent to it, a lotion that he quickly recognized and mildly appreciated.

Focused on the pain he was in the most of all, Miles vividly remembered the cause of his injuries and the culprits sending him plummeting off a cliff into the ocean, and it was clear to him that someone had saved him from his earlier fatal predicament. There was no other explanation.

But the most shocking revelation of all to him was the identity of his rescuer. Having a strong mental connection with the feeling of electricity, Miles recognized it immediately, feeling the presence of an electromagnetic field formed by electric charges that was in the shape of someone quite familiar to him; Tails. The one who saved his life and was nursing him back to health, was Tails. Someone he always thought hated him with a passion, actually valued his life, after all of the times he treated him with disdainful spite.

Miles was stunned at Tails being forgiving enough to help him as much as he did after all of the times he had hurt and insulted him, without him even having a reason to believe it would turn out well for him. Even though he had always heard that Tails was a good person, he didn't think he would ever do anything kind for him. Tails saved his life, and he had done nothing to earn such compassion.

He was overwhelmed by the depressing feeling that he didn't deserve his help, that Tails should've let him drown in retribution for the way he mistreated him, but from some strange fluke of the universe, he spared him. He showed him mercy. Miles firmly believed that the amount of suffering he had been through in life did more than enough to earn him compassionate gestures, but Tails felt sorry for him enough to help him even without knowing what he had been through.

" _Perhaps I was wrong about that little boy…_ " Miles thought sadly to himself. Even if he was still bitterly jealous of his happiness and didn't respect his idealistic outlook, he would always appreciate his kindness.

Of course, appreciating his kindness was one thing, but being open and honest about it and looking humble and vulnerable in the process was another thing entirely, and he knew he'd have a harder time swallowing his pride and doing that, than treating him the way he usually did and maintaining what was left of his dignity. But he didn't want to repay the rare kindness from him by treating him with his usual bitterness and making him regret going to all that trouble for him, making it look like he wasn't worth it, and he already looked weak in front of him just from being injured, so trying to act tough was pointless when he could barely stand.

Before he could even consider the idea of pretending to be asleep until he left and then leaving when he was gone, he heard Tails say to him in a worried tone, " M-Miles?... Are you, um, can you hear me? Are you alright? "

Still stunned at being shown compassion and sympathy, Miles remained silent in shame, having a hard time bringing himself to speak to him in a manner that he had never before, and worried him as a result. " C-Can you sit up? I, do you want something to eat? I-I've got some chicken noodle soup, but, you'd have to sit up to eat it, at the table, and, you might be too dizzy or, get a head rush or something, I don't know… But it'd still be best for you to eat it. I don't want you catching a cold from falling in the cold ocean and being wet for so long. D-Do you, do you want some? " Tails stammered nervously, feeling awkward about the situation and preparing for the worst.

The prospect of being given chicken noodle soup when he was hungry was too tempting for Miles to resist, and his survival instincts proved stronger than his pride as he finally gave a response, nodding with a sad look on his face. He decided he may as well be honest with him; Tails must have known he was able to hear him because he was speaking to him in the first place, so there was no point in pretending otherwise.

Miles forced himself to sit up, which was even more difficult with his legs being elevated, and forced his eyes open centimeter by centimeter when his eyelids felt too heavy and urged him to get some more sleep. Trying to keep his bandaged tail still as he sat up and turned around to face Tails a little, he let a moan slip out in the process as his blurry vision cleared, and he hoped that his leaning against the inner wall of the couch in exhaustion wouldn't make himself look even more weak in front of Tails, even if he wasn't functionally his enemy at the moment. In fact, for all intents and purposes, Tails was his friend, and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. Did he prefer being enemies with Tails? Did he like it? Did he really enjoy being enemies with anyone at all, considering that they would hurt him and insult him and act against him as a result? It seemed better to be friends with him than enemies, but acting as such would look very undignified of him, and require him to apologize to him first to gain his trust, which he dreaded doing.

Resting his back against the couch to the left of him feeling light-headed from a head rush, he sighed quietly with his hand on his head as it ached and his hands and left tail continued to sting fiercely, and Tails looked at him in sympathy for a few moments. Aware of how he was being stared at with pity, Miles was full of conflicting emotions at his compassion and kindness, torn between humiliated frustration at looking weak in front of him, stunned confusion at someone being nice to him for once, blissful appreciation of being treated with such compassion, and an insecure belief that he didn't truly deserve it.

Knowing he would feel guilty about leaving Miles alone even for a few seconds, Tails picked up the remote control for the TV and said sweetly with a nervous smile, " Wanna watch some TV for a while? I've got the Discovery channel on this, so, it's educational! I'll keep the volume down low and with subtitles on so it doesn't make your headache even worse. " Looking away from Tails ashamed, Miles mumbled awkwardly, " Y-Yes, um, _thank you,_ " very self-conscious of being polite to him for once as Tails turned on the TV, turned down the volume and turned on the subtitles for him.

After that, Tails said, " I'll be right back, " and ran into the kitchen in a yellow blur, disappearing from view in seconds and leaving him alone, overwhelming him with an undeniable emptiness in his heart at being left alone in the state he was in. After having to resist the urge to call out for him to come back, he realized what that implied about him and felt ashamed. " I'm pathetic… " Miles muttered under his breath with a bitter look and downcast eyes, embarrassed of how desperately he craved being treated with love and kindness. He then hoped that Tails didn't hear what he said, being ashamed of how he still kept his old habit of talking to himself quietly to distract himself from the fact that there was no one for him to actually talk to.

With his back and the back of his head resting against the soft couch behind him, shivering slightly from falling into the cold ocean recently, struggling to keep his eyes open with the effects of the tranquilizer still making him weary, he found himself listening more to the noise in the kitchen than the sound coming from the commercials on the TV, hearing a can opener being used for a while, a bowl and silverware being brought out of a cupboard and drawer, and a bowl being placed in the microwave and heated up after the contents of the can were poured into it. He then had to ignore his irrational paranoid worry that his old enemy was poisoning his soup, knowing that it was ridiculous after all the effort Tails had put into saving his life, but still remembering the last time he took food from a known enemy.

After what felt like forever, but was only a few minutes, Tails carefully walked into the room and placed the bowl of soup on the table saying gently, " There you go. " Miles reluctantly forced himself off the couch and sat in front of the table with his head hung low to start on his soup with the blankets still wrapped around warming him up, taking his time with it from knowing that it was hot. Tails said nervously, " Y-Your shirt and gloves are in the dryer for now. You'd take longer to dry off and warm up if I left them on you. Hope you don't mind wearing my bathrobe for now. I-It's a perfect fit!... Do you like it? " trying awkwardly to make him feel more at home. " Yes… " Miles said reluctantly, adding, " It's warm, and soft… " with a look of discomfort and annoyance. Tails' attempt at making conversation with his evil counterpart had failed, but he at least didn't seem to hate him at the moment.

Tails sat on the couch behind him at the other side of it, staring at him sadly, and the silence between them started to become increasingly uncomfortable as time passed, since both of them were painfully aware of how badly Tails wanted to get answers out of him and how reluctant Miles was to tell him anything.

Looking depressed and melancholic at seeing his own gloveless hands, Miles was especially not looking forward to Tails questioning him about the scars that he had no way of not noticing when he removed his gloves. He wasn't sure if he could talk about them without getting worked up, and he looked weak enough in front of him already without getting upset in front of him from revealing how he was treated in the past. At the same time, he did find it appealing the idea of having a sympathetic ear to vent about his past experiences to, as he barely did that with anyone. Most of the time, he would hold it all inside, not trying to talk about what was bothering him with anyone, because he was convinced that people didn't care and would never understand, and would only look down on him for being so troubled.

So deep down, he craved being able to tell Tails what had happened to him in the past and get his compassion and sympathy, finally having someone who wasn't on his side understand him. But it didn't change the fact that looking weak in front of someone, and thus looking like an easy target, was something he instinctively wanted to avoid. He doubted that Tails would think he had a persecution complex like everyone else did, but he still didn't look forward to even so much as implying what had happened to him.

At last, Tails finally broke the silence between them, saying unhappily, " Miles? " Knowing what was coming, Miles sighed, and replied reluctantly, " What? "

" Do they still hurt? " Tails asked sadly, with his voice almost a whisper from sympathy. Miles stopped what he was doing and looked at him stunned, with an unhappy expression on his face, having a hard time adjusting to the idea that someone actually felt sorry for him. He was especially stunned at how that was Tails' very first question, showing that he cared about his well-being more than anything else; he was expecting him to inquire into the nature of the injuries and who did it before bothering to think about how they affected him. " Tails… " he said quietly as his gaze went down to the scars on his hands. He wasn't entirely comfortable with calling him Tails, considering it to be inherently hurtful, but he wasn't sure what else he could call him; he couldn't get around it by calling him by an insult after everything he did for him that day.

After a four second silence, Miles finally answered, " Occasionally… " reluctant to look weak in front of him, but wanting to be honest in spite of it. After hearing his response, Tails felt even more sorry for him, and started to get a scared look in his eyes as he thought about what kind of person would cause his scars in the first place. After another four second silence, Miles reluctantly admitted, " Mainly when I wash them… When something like soap gets into my scars, they tend to sting… " and Tails wondered if the salty seawater would've made them sting even more.  
" Who would do such a thing? " Tails said quietly, looking devastated and trying to hold back tears of sympathy. Miles continued to unhappily avoid eye contact with him and finish up his soup until Tails asked, " Was it Scourge? "

" He would _never_ do that! " Miles exclaimed defensively as he turned to face Tails in an instant, looking both offended and horrified that he would even say such a thing. Tails flinched and jumped from his sudden outburst of anger, and the fact that he was standing up for Scourge confused him more than anything else. As Tails looked nervous and intimidated from upsetting one of his worst enemies that much, Miles continued indignantly, " In fact, he was the only one who ever _stood up for me_ back when I was… alone… "

He realized as he was ending his sentence that he had startled Tails with his response, and felt terrible about it, wishing he had just bottled up his anger instead of immediately expressing it in a knee-jerk reaction, one that he had ever since he had first become friends with Scourge, when he was so grateful for his friendship and positive attention that he was blindly loyal to him. By the final word of his sentence, he looked sad, with just mentioning his past in the passing filling him with an intense sadness that was impossible to hide, and his embarrassment and shame over instinctively defending Scourge as if nothing had changed between them made him feel even worse.

He was stuck in the past, and he hated when he made that clear, reacting like he would if he was in an earlier point in time even when that was completely irrational. Miles resented Scourge, but he still couldn't help but stand up for him, because the idea of him being compared to his old bullies was infuriating after everything Scourge had done for him, after everything he had said and done to make it clear that he hated the people who abused him that way.

Feeling terrible about the fact that he intimidated the very person who went to such lengths to help him, Miles looked him in the eyes and apologized sadly, " I-I'm sorry I yelled at you... I didn't, I… forgot who I was talking to… " with a depressed tone in a voice that was almost a whisper. He looked away from him again, trying to hold back tears as he drank up the last of his chicken noodle soup, and Tails needed a couple seconds for it to sink in that his evil counterpart had actually apologized to him. He couldn't believe it. He must have really appreciated his help. Tails was stunned that Miles was grateful for it at all instead of feeling entitled to it and not obligated to repay his kindness in turn.

" It's okay, Miles. A-At least you said you were sorry. But I owe you an apology too. I didn't know that, I mean, I just assumed it was him, because, no one else came to mind. I, I didn't mean to… " Tails said sadly, with a nervous smile at the first two sentences. After hesitating briefly, he asked him gently, " Who was it, Miles?... You don't have to tell me if you don't _want_ to. I just… I just wanna help… "

There was a silence, as Miles deeply considered just telling him the truth. Doing so would require a lot of explanation, and he could barely talk about his past without getting worked up. He wanted to talk about it with someone sympathetic and be comforted for it, but at the same time, he didn't want to look weak in front of him and cause him to completely stop taking him seriously as an enemy… even if he had a hard time thinking of Tails as his enemy anymore after everything he did for him.

Miles sighed, and said in a depressed tone with a bitter expression, " People are cruel… Cruel and heartless… It's no one you know, so if I gave you names, they'd mean nothing. " With downcast eyes and his head hung low, he added under his breath, " I barely even knew them myself… "

Looking even more worried than before, Tails hesitated for a moment before getting off the couch, sitting right next to him, and asking sadly, " Was it your parents? " placing his hand on his shoulder. He felt a startled jolt from Miles at the physical contact, and while this implied that he was surprisingly easily startled, what confused him even more was how quickly Miles went from being startled to appreciating his kind gesture, with his shoulders relaxing from the affection almost as quickly as they had tensed up. Was he used to that from someone else?

" I never knew my parents… " Miles admitted after regaining his composure, with an irritated look on his face trying to cover for his melancholic tone. " Are they… are they dead? " Tails asked sadly, hoping he wasn't asking too many personal questions. To his relief, Miles continued to give him answers, going into a rant as if the floodgates had been opened.

" No, but they're dead to _me…_ They _abandoned_ me at an orphanage when I was a day old saying I was a disgrace to the family and they never wanted to see me again. For something I can't even help! I didn't even do anything wrong!... Although I suppose I should be _grateful._ They could've easily left me in the woods to die or kept me chained up in their basement all my life, being neglected and abused and barely given enough to survive. A lot of parents have done that to an _unwanted child._ At least they had the decency to leave me at an orphanage when they didn't want me, so that there was at least the _possibility_ that I'd be adopted by parents who wanted me, as nonexistent as that possibility _was_ because everyone I meet takes _one_ look at me and _recoils_ in _disgust…_ " Miles ranted bitterly as Tails listened in sympathy with a look of anxiety on his face, horrified at his parents abandoning him for not meeting their high standards, and starting to get a dreadful feeling that he understood why Miles was treated the way he was.

With a sad expression on his face, Miles started looking progressively more heartbroken and miserable as he explained, " I assume from the fact that they abandoned me that they were horrible people who were completely irredeemable, but I don't know anything else about them. They don't sound any different from everyone else I've met, and there have been plenty of otherwise nice people who still treated me like the scum of the earth… just like everybody else… M-My point is, I don't know what my parents were _like._ I don't remember having parents at all!... I barely even _remember_ my experience with the orphanage, to be quite frank, because it burned down from being struck by lightning when I was three years old, so I don't have many vivid memories of it aside from being treated terribly. I-I don't even know when my own _birthday_ is because the only people who could've told me worked there, and, none of them are exactly _alive_ to remind me. " Tails had to hold back a gasp at hearing that.

" Then I had to live alone, hiding in the woods, doing whatever it took to survive. No one on that island tried to help me, not unless it was to lure me into a false sense of security, before _beating me._ Everyone was out to get me! Everyone wanted me dead! I had _no choice_ but to start stealing what I needed because the soup kitchens refused to let me in and I had no other way of surviving the winter, and the hospital wouldn't help me no matter _how_ injured I was, so I had to hide in people's homes or in caves while I recovered, because if I stayed outside, then eventually people would find me!... I… " The more Miles revealed to Tails about his past, the more upset he became, until by the end he had a hard time keeping his voice from cracking as tears welled up in his eyes, overwhelmed by the feeling that it just wasn't fair. Four seconds passed with a dead silence, until he took a deep breath and finally spoke once more. " I was hunted… " Miles whispered fearfully, and Tails looked horrified at the implications of what he said.

He took a shaky breath before ranting quickly with a cracking voice and a forced expression of bitter hatred on his face, " Every day there would be people trying to hunt me down, attacking me with whatever they could get their hands on; frying pans, knives, guns, syringes, rakes, crowbars and baseball bats, _anything!_ I couldn't stay in one place for too long because the entire _island_ was searched… The so-called _heroes_ of the island were my _worst_ nightmares. The police wanted to shoot me dead, the firemen tried to drown me with their hose, even the paramedics would kick me when I was down! Whenever I tried to call for help it just made things _worse!_ Everyone wanted me dead! And the few people who _didn't,_ kidnapped me when I was too injured to evade them and _tortured_ me… using me as a personal stress ball, a _punching bag!..._ At least _three_ different times I was held captive for that purpose, a different person every time, barely being kept alive. And the only reason I was able to escape was because my prospective murderers set me free… I was only four years old. " A tear rolled down his cheek, and Tails, feeling awful about not doing it earlier and unable to hold back from it any longer, put his arm around him to hold him close in a sideways hug in sympathy, and was relieved that he wasn't objecting to it at all. He didn't even seem to notice, being too absorbed in his past to focus on the present.

" A-A-And that was the best I could ever _hope_ for, because if those people hadn't kidnapped me instead of just killing me outright, I wouldn't have had a place to recover from my injuries… a place that was safe from the people hunting me down and had everything I needed to survive. At least they gave me food and water that wasn't poisoned, even if it was only to keep me alive to keep _abusing_ me and the _food_ tasted _awful,_ but at least it was because it was healthy and nutritious, like gruel, or, Brussel sprouts. At least it was good for me… And… " Miles sniffled, and said with a forced smirk that wavered constantly, " The joke's on them, now, because I've grown to _prefer_ healthy food… "

After sniffling quietly and subtly drying his eyes with his head lowered and turned away to help hide it, he went from anxious and bitter to merely depressed as he told Tails, " I-I can't remember ever _not_ liking healthy food because food in general was always so, _scarce_ for me. I suppose I just adapted an affinity for it as a survival mechanism. I'd break into homes that were unoccupied and the first thing I'd do after closing the curtains and locking all the windows and doors, is make myself a salad… And tea… I always _loved_ tea… " By the end, he forced a nervous smile, trying to remind himself that there were still good points in his life even when it was at its worst, only to remember that they weren't nearly enough to make it worth it.

There was a silence, as Miles looked incredibly sad with downcast eyes and his head hung low, and Tails tried to keep himself together, devastated and heartbroken from hearing just how much he had suffered. He was starting to think that Miles had turned against humanity for a reason. He always assumed that Miles was just his evil twin, a snobbishly condescending evil genius who was evil because he was born that way, because he was his evil counterpart. But the reality was far more depressing. Tails wondered in horror if he could've ended up just like Miles if circumstances were different.

Miles wasn't just his evil twin, his exact opposite in every way with nothing in common with him. Things weren't as simple as that. He could've ended up just like him. Tails wondered if, at one point in his life, Miles was just like him, sweet and innocent and naïve, only to have the childhood beaten out of him until something in him snapped, and turned him bitter, and fixated entirely on survival. Tails had always been irritated by his condescending behavior, but after learning about how awful people made him feel about himself, treating him like his life had no value, he was starting to wonder if that unlikable attitude was all a mask, something he put on to protect himself, and if there was more to him than that.

" D-Do you have any of that, by the way?... Any, tea I mean?... I, I hope I'm not asking for too much… after everything you _did_ for me… " Miles asked with a nervous smile, looking depressed with his head hung low and downcast eyes by the end of it. After a brief silence, Tails exclaimed in sympathy, " Of course, of course! Of course I'll make you some tea! You've earned it, Miles! You've earned it. You, had a rough day. "

Right after he said that, Tails embraced Miles in a comforting hug, knowing he'd feel awful if he didn't express his compassion of him more openly after hearing everything he had to say, and wanting to put off leaving him all alone again. At first, Miles jumped in panic and stiffened from being held still by his enemy, but after a second had passed, it began to sink in what Tails was doing for him, and he relaxed his shoulders and returned the hug with a smile, savoring the affection for as long as he could.

Four seconds later, Tails ended the hug, with Miles reluctantly letting go a split-second later with a nervous smile, and said, " Wait right here and I'll make some for you. O-Or you can come into the kitchen if you want! It'd probably be better if I had you there with me to tell me if I was doing it wrong, " and giggled nervously. " Good idea, " Miles said immediately, grateful that he had been given an easy excuse to not be left alone. Tails noticed a small smile on Miles' face and started to smile for real, happy that Miles was finally smiling in front of him.

He had never seen a genuine smile from him before; it was always a satisfied smirk if anything. Miles smiling sincerely was a stunning sight, as he looked so much like Tails, with a smile that was cute and endearing to the same extent as his that would light up the room with his happiness. Tails usually pictured Miles with a distinctive condescending or antagonistic look on his face that made him seem completely unlikable, so on the rare occasions where he actually smiled, he looked like a completely different person. Tails thought deeply about that as he made tea with Miles' help, putting milk and sugar into it to put the finishing touches on it and carefully bringing it into the living room and placing it on the table with Miles following behind him.

Miles took a sip of the tea, and smiled peacefully in relaxed bliss, appreciating his favorite drink immediately. He sighed happily, and said, " Perfect… " with his eyes closed with a smile. Tails smiled at seeing him finally cheer up, proud of himself, but unfortunately, it didn't take long for Miles to start looking worried again, ashamed of himself for looking so weak in front of him. " I never wanted you to see me like this… " he said sadly, and as Tails let that sink in, he looked depressed as he started getting lost in thought.

Disappointed that he was back to looking worried so soon, Tails asked him, " Is anyone gonna be looking for you?... You know, wondering where you are?... " Miles looked over at him, and Tails continued, " I don't wanna worry anyone by keeping you here. You can stay as long as you like, don't get me wrong, I'm just hoping it's not any trouble, that's all… "

After a silence, Miles told him, " It's not a big deal, don't worry about it. My frien- um, I mean, my _associates_ in the _Suppression Squad,_ they aren't going to be looking for me. I know that for a fact. I'm… separated from them for the time being… I can stay if I want to. " Tails smiled a little at hearing Miles reveal that he considered the members of the Anti-Freedom Fighters to be his friends. He really cared about them, probably because they were the only people who didn't try to kill him. With standards as low as that, it was a small wonder that Miles didn't have a problem with having criminals for friends, and after all the abuse he suffered, it was only natural that he'd eventually want revenge, even if a part of him knew it was pointless and felt empty from getting it.

" Good to know I won't have anyone barging into the house. N-No offense. So that means you can stay here for as long as you like while you recover from your injuries, for as long as it takes! Just make yourself at home, " Tails said to him with a smile, only to look worried and hesitant, starting to remember who exactly he was talking to and how he really didn't get along with Miles most of the time. Would his gratitude eventually wear off? Would he go back to being just as rude to him as usual? Could he be trusted to behave? Tails wondered if he was making a huge mistake, but at the same time, he knew it was the right thing to do, even if it would cause him problems later on. It didn't seem like anyone else could be there for him, and it wasn't right to make him take care of himself with the blood loss weakening him and in the kind of pain he was in. Sending out into the streets in his condition would make him a prime target for criminals at worst, and he wouldn't survive the second time.

" Won't Sonic have a problem with me being here? And- " Miles asked nervously. " He won't when he sees the condition you're in. He'll understand, " Tails reassured him, thankful that Sonic and him didn't have that many disagreements. " And don't worry, Miles. I won't tell him what you told me if you don't want me to, " Tails added understandingly.

" Thank you, " Miles said quietly with a nervous expression. " Me and Sonic will stay here with you for as much as we can while you recover. We're not the only Freedom Fighters, after all, so I'm sure Sally will understand. T-The only problem I can think of is that one of my friends might come over here to see how things are doing and I'll have some explaining to do, but that's why me and Sonic will spend most of our time right here with you, just in case. We'll back you up if you need us to. Just relax, watch some TV, and you'll be back on your feet in no time! " Tails said with a smile, staying optimistic.

Miles nodded, looking worried from what Tails was saying to him. He still appreciated the tea he was drinking, but it was hard for it to keep him distracted from his worries for long, as he was painfully aware of the fact that Sonic and his friends were usually his enemies and would not be very welcoming of him no matter how polite he tried to be. He couldn't stand the idea of being shunned again, always feeling like he was on the outside looking in, not being accepted and loved by the people around him and knowing full well that he was being judged, shunned, hated and insulted, no matter what he did. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get people to like him. Just the thought of it nearly drove him to tears. It was no wonder he ended up becoming a villain, because no matter what he did or said, everyone treated him like one, for as long as he could remember.

He didn't want to feel like an outcast again. At least when he was with the Suppression Squad, he felt like he belonged. They weren't always happy with him, especially considering all the emotional baggage he came with, but they still understood him and were surprisingly considerate and accommodating of him, especially Alicia, and even Patch could be a reliable friend to him, showing a protective side as he was always willing to punch someone in the face for calling his friend the wrong insult. Boomer was usually all wrapped up in his engineering, so he didn't have much of an attachment to him, but even he showed that he cared about Miles from time to time. All of them did, continuing to celebrate his birthday even after Scourge stopped being around to pressure them into doing so. The only one he didn't like was the Anti-Bunnie, Buns, as she seemed to be the most self-absorbed and the most likely to complain about him and how much his friends defended him, accusing them of " babying him " and " spoiling him rotten, " and sometimes he wondered if she was right.

As flawed as his friends were, being cynical to the point of paranoid and insisting that the world deserved whatever they did to it, and being stubbornly reluctant to look like softies by giving him all the affection he wanted, they were still the only people who cared about him, who trusted him, who appreciated his presence and valued his life. They were the only people aside from Scourge who weren't disgusted with him for having two tails… until he met Sonic and his friends, who couldn't have possibly had a problem with it, and yet they resented him anyways for completely different reasons, hating him for his personality and behavior rather than for being a mutant.

The rest of his enemies only used who he was and what he did as an excuse to justify their prejudiced hatred of him, knowing that they could no longer get away with being honest about it, and would've hated him anyways even if he wasn't a bitter criminal. But Sonic and his friends weren't like that. They hated him for who he was, making him wonder if he as a person had truly become that unlikable that even if someone didn't have a problem with his second tail, they'd still hate him anyways. Was he really that awful?

He couldn't stand that feeling. He couldn't stand feeling like he'd be hated no matter what, and it often made him lash out at people because he'd be hated either way, wanting them to feel the pain he endured by showing them what it was like to be treated like a monster. He had eventually decided that it was better to be standing up for himself rather than passively putting up with mistreatment, even if it was pointless in the end.

But after all the sympathy Tails had shown him that day, Miles had started to feel some hope. Even before he told him about his past, his arch-enemy still cared about him enough to save his life and take care of him when he needed it. Maybe he _wasn't_ forced to explain what he had been through for non-prejudiced people to stop hating him. It would go a long way, but if he could avoid it, he would.

Miles didn't care about doing the right thing and being a good person anymore, instinctively seeing people in general as cruel bigoted bullies who didn't deserve his help and viewing everyone as a threat. While there were people he loved and cared about, and he certainly had some compassion in him, Miles had become so antagonistic and fixated on revenge that from a certain perspective, he was the definition of evil. In fact, he was even more evil than Scourge, hating humanity with a fiery passion that rivaled anyone else's; while Scourge was somewhat cynical, his villainy mostly came from his selfishness, not really having anything against humanity as a whole – they just happened to get in the way of his fun, preventing him from doing whatever he wanted in his hedonistic lifestyle.

Scourge was merely selfish, while Miles had an outright vendetta against the people of the world. He understood why people would think that someone like that didn't belong on Sonic's side, because he wasn't a good person anymore. He had it out for the world, while the Freedom Fighters wanted to defend it. He had his own morality to him, with his lashing out at the world with his evil deeds being his own twisted version of doing the right thing because he was standing up to potential bullies, real or imagined, because everyone had the potential to be a bully, and everyone with the potential to be a bully was one because of that alone.

Miles wasn't happy with the idea of becoming a hero after all the abuse he had suffered, when his villainy in the first place was his idea of standing up for himself, and heroism would mean helping the very kind of people who would judge him in the first place. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of being a hero and treated like one. If Miles joined the Freedom Fighters, that would be exactly what he'd be heavily pressured to deal with, and objecting to it would only earn him scorn and hatred, forcing him to return to being alone. He'd be forced into being a hero when he didn't want to.

But if there was a possibility that he could have some genuine caring friends among Sonic's side, he supposed he could tolerate being a hero just to fit in with them. He could always take out his hatred for humanity on Eggman's robots. In fact, it'd be the best way for him to use his powers to their full potential, as he'd completely stop feeling the shameful urge to hold back against his targets if his targets were robots and machines. He could fight to his full viciousness, letting out the full brunt of his anger and rage, and almost no one would complain because the victims of his evil behavior would be universally understood to deserve it.

As long as Miles had caring friends as a result of that, he could see himself staying with Tails permanently, and potentially having a happier life, perhaps even getting to finally see the day when most of the people he encountered would smile at seeing him rather than recoil in disgust. There might come a day when the world he lived in would not only accept him, but like him, and all he ever wanted was to be loved. There were times when Miles was so enraged and devastated from the prejudice he endured that he furiously wished the world would end and dreamed of bringing on its destruction, seeing people in general as heartless threats with no redeeming qualities, but even he knew deep down that it wasn't what he wanted. He wanted the discrimination to end. He still wanted people to like him, he still had faith, he still wanted to be able to trust people easily and not have it backfire on him. And maybe, just maybe, if he spent enough time with Sonic, he might be able to learn to trust again. He might finally get to have a happy life. Even the traumatic flashbacks to his past might become less frequent as he'd begin to focus on the good in his life.

But all of that was a pipe dream. He didn't know why he was even considering such an ideal scenario. He would be lucky if Sonic's friends didn't try to attack him, insult him and kick him out of the house the instant they saw him there. He couldn't imagine Amy, Sally or Bunnie being supportive, either, with Amy even hurting her own friends with her painful-looking hammer, and Sally being more cautious and reserved than Sonic was. With his luck, he'd be miserable from being shunned by them no matter how nice Tails and Sonic were, and he'd be desperate to be back with the Suppression Squad in hours. He might even end up missing Scourge.

At least _he_ never treated him that way. Scourge may have shown annoyance with him for his negativity, his so-called nagging of him, and his condescending sophisticated act. He called him pixel-brain or wise guy or a nag every time he contradicted him, and regularly slapped him on the back of the head for being rude to him, intimidating him with his temper when he frustrated him enough. He was smug and focused on his own desires and doing his own thing. While he tried to be a good friend to him in his own way, being incredibly comforting when he made it clear that he needed it and friendly to him most of the time, he was still cluelessly insensitive and irritating, especially as he got older and started responding to his criticism by dismissing him as being a brat, and spent all his time without his little brother around for the sake of his intimidating image. Growing up meant growing apart, as far as Miles could tell, as their once incredibly close friendship ended up deteriorating into a petty rivalry as the years went by.

But as difficult as their friendship ended up being, Miles knew that Scourge still cared about him. Even though he slapped him sometimes, doing that meant he was holding back when he could've done so much worse and would've with anybody else; after all, Scourge _never_ held back. Whenever someone called him a freak or hurt him, Scourge would completely lose his temper on the one responsible. When Scourge took over Anti-Mobius, the very first thing he did publicly as its new king, was arrange for the island where Miles was tormented on to be destroyed, taking revenge on its inhabitants for abusing his childhood friend. After all those years of knowing Miles, he never forgot his hatred of Miles' bullies. He even gave him the satisfaction of pressing the button that destroyed the island he lived on; even if it wasn't all that satisfying in the end, as Miles was never able to believe that the people who tormented him in his past were truly gone. They were alive in his memories, continuing to torment him in vivid flashbacks long after he had taken hollow and unsatisfying revenge on a very small section of the people who hated him.

Everyone in his dimension hated him the instant they saw him. What made the people of his island any different? What could make the people of Tails' dimension any different? They never seemed to have a problem with his second tail, only comparing him to Tails, but he was certain that if he had been to more parts of Mobius, he would've met people who were exactly as cruel as the ones back home.

As he kept thinking about what was bothering him, becoming consumed in his inner turmoil and not paying attention to anything else, it rained outside in an unusually heavy downpour, and eventually the wind began to pick up, as if the weather itself was synchronizing itself with his miserable emotional state and venting out his stress for him in the process.

Soon after Miles had finished his soup, there was a flash of light in the room coming from the window as loud thunder boomed in the distance and seemed to shake the house from its proximity. Tails jumped looking startled and started shaking in fear, his pupils shrunken and his expression being that of anxiety and dread. Miles recognized that expression in himself, knowing very well how it felt to feel like he was in danger, and seeing the person who was kind enough to save his life scared out of his wits didn't feel right.

Tails was distracted by his fear and only focused on the thunder booming outside his window at the expense of everything else, only to be briefly snapped out of it upon Miles sitting next to him on the couch and embracing him in a comforting hug, having his arms around him and his head over his shoulder as he gently held him close to his chest. " Huh? Really? I… " Tails said in astonished confusion, carefully returning the hug when he finally realized what he was doing. After a few seconds, he smiled and said happily, " Aw, that's so nice of you! Thanks!... But why? "

There was a silence, until Miles could finally motivate himself to respond, continuing to hold him close while he struggled to speak in a dignified way to him. " Because you were nice to me… You went through the trouble of saving my life, and, now I'm in your debt. So I wish to repay you for, the act of compassion. I-I believe you've earned it… I still can't believe someone who hates me would _help_ me like that, let alone help me at _all!_ I… I'm, sorry about the way I treated you… I'm sorry I treated you like you were useless. I knew it wasn't true and I didn't really mean it!... I just did it to spite you... The truth was… I envied you… You had _such_ a _happier_ life than I _ever_ did, and I was jealous of how you didn't suffer like I have. I'll admit I'm _still_ a little jealous of you, but you, you _proved_ today that you have such _kindness_ in you, even for someone like me, that you don't deserve to be treated that way even once!... I've been treated like I was inferior and worthless _hundreds_ of times for as long as I can remember!... That's why I act like I'm superior to everyone else, because I want to let people know how it feels… but I'm doing the same thing they did to me, and now it's to someone who doesn't even deserve it. So, I shouldn't have been lashing out at you like that… I was being petty, and… _childish…_ " Miles apologized reluctantly, with downcast eyes as he tried as hard as he could to force himself not to well up with tears and keep his voice from cracking as he spoke to him. The last word of his apology was especially hard for him, as it almost caused him to break down crying right then and there.

He was extremely self-conscious of just how rare it was for him to be openly humble and give someone a lengthy apology for his condescending behavior, and had to force himself to continue and to not take back anything he said or lie that he didn't really mean it, as just saying all of that was causing him to hate himself from being reminded of just how unlikable he was, and he knew that the situation he was in was not an appropriate time to lash out at whoever happened to be around him.

After he had finished apologizing, Miles closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing to avoid crying in front of Tails, being thankful that he was close to him and being comforted by that when he needed it. " Oh, Miles, it's… it's okay… I… I didn't know… As long as you at least, _tone down_ on it, I, I think I can forgive you… I understand, " Tails said with pity, stunned at his evil twin of all people showing remorse, and feeling sorry for him enough to tell him he forgave him in spite of the fact that he was still annoyed with him for his behavior. He had never realized there was a deeper explanation for Miles' resentment of him, and from what he was learning about him, it all made sense. He would never stop being upset at remembering how that evil genius acted as his enemy, but now that he understood the reason behind it, he was able to look past it and see him with something other than hatred.  
Suddenly, the rain started getting even louder as thunder boomed at a volume so startlingly loud and with a flash of light so blatant that it caused Tails to jump and yelp, and start trembling in Miles' arms. Panicked, Tails exclaimed hysterically, " Oh, that sounds like it's right next to the house! What if it gets struck by lightning?! What if- " " Nothing like that will happen, I promise. I can _assure_ _you_ of that. The storm will be over in four hours and 42 minutes and we'll be safe for the entire duration of it _._ It's… you're going to be _alright…_ " Miles told him, realizing that he could've sounded condescending by the last sentence and trying to make up for it by reluctantly making his sympathy for him clear.

" How can you not be scared? " Tails whispered, holding him tightly on the couch with his eyes closed to try to deal with the fear. " Well, I used to be afraid of it, but by the time I was four years old, I stopped seeing it as a threat. I have lived through _hundreds_ of thunderstorms. There hasn't been a single week in my life where a storm hasn't occurred. And it was never that much of an inconvenience. There were _dozens_ of instances where convenient lightning strikes would scare off my pursuers, and that's far from the only way it helped me, so, after a while, I started to see lightning as more _helpful_ than anything else. It was as if every time lightning struck near me, it was to my benefit!... There's also the fact that I'm extremely familiar with how the weather in my general vicinity is going to be like and how exactly it works, so I'm never surprised when it starts thundering out because I know exactly when it's going to happen. But I'm not trying to insult you… I understand why you don't feel safe around it. I'm not judging you for having a logical fear. Not everyone is like me… It's just that I'm used to it by now, and it's not a threat to _me_ like it is to everyone else, " Miles told him quietly in a matter-of-fact tone, sounding depressed while talking about his pursuers.

" How could you ever get used to _this?_ " Tails said with a shaky voice as Miles held him in his arms and thunder boomed just next to the house. " I just stopped seeing it as a threat… after repeated exposure. I was desensitized to it after a few years. " Miles said awkwardly, stopping himself just short of telling him how lightning strikes gave him energy and made him more powerful, as it might cause Tails to suspect that he was the cause of the storm and be upset with him for it. He honestly didn't know if he caused the storm or not, and felt terrible about the possibility that he did, that Tails was frightened because of him. And it wasn't even the first time that it had happened.

There was a silence, as neither one of them spoke for seven seconds, Miles not being sure what else to say and Tails being too focused on the storm to speak to him. " Hey, um… I-I'm still tired… _Incredibly_ tired. A-Are you, tired as well? " Miles awkwardly asked him, hoping he would get the hint.

" What? Uh… sort of. Why do you- " Tails answered in confusion, only to be startled by thunder booming especially loud, and he started holding onto him like his life depended on it, trembling in his arms. " Why don't we lie down for a while and try to have some rest? " Miles said nervously while speaking quickly to get it out faster. To his relief, Tails nodded, and didn't object at all as he laid down on the couch with him, still holding him in his arms.

He briefly used one of his arms to pull the blankets over the two of them, and laid down with his head on the pillow of the couch, sharing it with Tails. The pillow was turned diagonally so that Tails' side of it was lower than his, and he held him close to him with his arm underneath it as Tails ended up placing his head against his chest nearly burying his face in it, being as close to him as possible to try to distract himself and comfort himself. Miles wrapped his uninjured tail around Tails to help hold him close to him and make him feel better with the soft feeling of it, and Tails smiled a little, and brought him closer to him by wrapping his tails around him in turn. With that, the two of them were lying on the couch in each other's arms, with Miles trying as hard as he could to get Tails to relax and get some sleep in the most terrifying storm he had ever experienced.

They both knew it wasn't something that normally happened and to not get used to it, but at the same time, they appreciated it anyways, Tails because he was scared out of his wits and Miles because he just wanted to hold someone close and be held back, knowing full well how lonely and deprived of affection he had become. As Tails trembled in his arms and sobbed from the lightning storm and how close it was to the house, Miles held him close with his eyes closed in a sad expression, gently caressing his head and back at various points to reassure him, with them both completely covered by the blankets. To his slight embarrassment, it came completely naturally to him, rather than being something he had to force himself to do. As he comforted his trembling counterpart getting him to sleep, he was reminded of how Tails reminded him of himself at a younger age, back when he was naïve and sweet and innocent, and yet almost completely consumed by fear.

After a full hour had passed, Tails was asleep in his arms, having been soothed to sleep at last. Miles wasn't that far from it, feeling so calm and peaceful from the relaxing feeling of holding someone warm and soft close and being held, and knowing that the plentiful lightning strikes were good for him as he subconsciously gathered energy from them. It wasn't long before he fell asleep holding him, staying silent as he spent the night with his former enemy in his arms. It ended up being the first night in months where he didn't have post-traumatic flashbacks of people trying to kill him or worse for having a second tail.

Instead, his dreams were of Scourge, of how happy he was being friends with him when they first met, when it was just the two of them and all Scourge cared about was enjoying himself with him. While Scourge was tactless and clueless at times when it came to trying to be a good friend, his insensitivity from lack of personal experience was made up for with generosity and kindness, as he was an incredibly understanding and caring friend, the best big brother he could've ever imagined. Even his infamous temper was very held back around him, as he learned to be patient and be careful about what he said to avoid offending his only friend. Miles missed those days. He missed them more than anything else, and thinking about them brought tears to his eyes because he didn't think it was fair that they had to end. Could he ever truly replace him?

When morning came at last, Sonic opened the door of his house with a smile, relieved to come home for some much-needed rest after spending the night fighting Eggman's robots. He walked into the living room with a smile, only to stop in his tracks and look shocked and apprehensive at seeing Anti-Tails on the living room couch, who gasped in fear at seeing him and flinched. " No, please! I-I can explain! " he said fearfully while trembling uncontrollably, almost whimpering as Sonic looked at him alarmed. But all of Sonic's reservations about him disappeared when he noticed how injured he was and gasped.

One of his tails was heavily bandaged with a long narrow stain in it representing that he had been slashed at with something sharp, and there were bandages wrapped around his hands covering up some noticeable wounds. He was completely covered in bruises from head to toe, and when Sonic took a closer look at his fingers, he saw that they were covered in scars and burn marks that appeared to be years older than the cuts that were bandaged up. " What happened to you? " Sonic said with sympathy, his voice almost a whisper. " I… They… " Miles said quietly with a sad expression, stunned at how quickly he felt sorry for him and not entirely wanting to tell him what happened. His instincts were telling him to trust Sonic and give into the temptation to seek comfort from him, but there was still some anxiety and fear holding him back. After all, he wasn't the Sonic he knew.

" Sonic? " Tails said in surprise as he walked into the room, carrying a plate of French toast and scrambled eggs with a fork on it. " What's going on? What happened to him? " Sonic asked him unhappily. " A gang of criminals attacked him… " Tails answered sadly, and after placing the plate on the living room table as Miles got off the couch and sat in front of it still covered by blankets, he whispered, " He was thrown off a cliff into the ocean. He could've drowned! I don't wanna think about what would've happened if I hadn't been there. He could've bled to death! He almost… " There was a silence, as Tails didn't want to get too upset by finishing that sentence.

Understanding, Sonic said in a reassuring tone, " Don't worry, Miles, you can stay here for as long as you need to. It's not safe for you to be walking out and about with injuries like that. " Miles couldn't help but smile in relief at hearing that. Tails was right after all. But he still couldn't help but be worried that if he didn't behave in quite the right way around him, Sonic would get irritated with having him around and impatient for him to leave, which would lock him out of staying there indefinitely. There was also the possibility that getting too close to Sonic would cause Tails to worry that Sonic was replacing him as his brother figure, or that Miles was trying to make that happen on purpose.

" Thank you… I, I'll stay quiet and… stay here. I won't be an inconvenience. You've earned it, both of you; you for allowing me to stay, and Tails for saving my life. I must repay you for this!... As soon as I am able… " Miles replied quietly in a depressed tone, self-conscious of looking so humble.

Knowing that Miles didn't feel welcome in his home and not knowing what he could do to reassure him, Sonic said to Tails quietly, " Good luck, " with his hand on his shoulder comfortingly. He wanted to give Miles that affectionate gesture, but he wasn't sure if he would be comfortable with it.

With that, Sonic sat down on the couch and waited for Tails to bring his own breakfast to the living room, not wanting to leave Miles unsupervised in spite of feeling sorry for him, and when Tails returned and sat beside Miles to have his breakfast, Sonic sped into the kitchen in a blue blur to make breakfast for himself, deciding to have it in the living room to keep Tails company before catching up on his sleep in his room. Tails was watching a physics documentary on TV, and Miles reluctantly watched as well, having no interest in the subject when it didn't pertain to his weather powers, but appreciating how it gave him something to focus on other than his pain and worrying, and not wanting to annoy Tails by complaining when he was lucky he was being allowed to stay in his home.

Hours passed in which Miles slept on the couch with the television as background noise. When he finally woke up, he realized that he was alone. Tails was working on his engineering, so Sonic had been left to supervise him. Miles was confused at how he was trusted to be left unsupervised so early, only to realize that Sonic must have overestimated the amount of time he would be sleeping. He made a mental note to himself to pretend to still be asleep when Sonic was returning to his side. That way, he wouldn't have to deal with any false accusations on his first day of staying with him.  
Miles slowly sat up, keeping the warm blankets covering him, and quietly yawned while readjusting to being awake again. But before he could start focusing on the television across from him, he was snapped out of his state of drowsiness when he heard the sound of a small dog barking and gasped with a startled jolt, tensing up immediately at the familiar sound. Panicking, his pupils shrunk and he trembled uncontrollably saying, " No! NO! That _horrible_ sound! Don't hurt me! _Please!_ " In an instant, he was taken back to his past, when he was a four-year-old child running away from a vicious black dog with a red collar and sharp teeth that was chasing him down in a fenced in backyard.  
Clutching the blankets tightly, he vividly remembered all of the times he had been chased by vicious dogs that had been sent after him in the past, and all of the memories flashed before his eyes one after the other. Seconds after he tripped on a tree trunk, a black dog started biting into his left arm as he struggled to get up from the ground forcing himself not to scream to avoid attracting bullies to his location. Reliving it so vividly that it might as well have been happening for real to him, Miles trembled and grimaced with his eyes squeezed shut while grabbing his arm protectively, desperate to prevent the same thing from happening again. " No, no, no, no… " he whispered under his breath, in denial. He had gone from being mildly content to terrified in an instant from a single familiar sound.  
Hiding his arms underneath the blankets wrapped around him, his panic became hysterical when he felt the weight of something the size of a small dog pounce on his chest with its head close to his face, and only the fear of getting in trouble with Sonic and Tails restrained him from instinctively trying to attack it in self-defence. Desperately hoping he wouldn't get hurt, he froze up as a feeling of familiar dread overwhelmed him. There was nothing he could do. He was powerless.

" Huh? " Miles said quietly upon feeling a small metal object move across his face. Motivating himself to open at least one eye to see what was happening, he saw a small robot shaped like a fox quickly licking his face with a metallic cold " tongue, " with what seemed to be a happy expression on its face, something that took a long time for Miles to register from the fear and uncertainty overwhelming him. He instinctively examined T-Pup to gauge how threatening it was to him, and to his relief, he found no sharp teeth or claws that it could hurt him with. " No teeth, no claws… That's good… You're not a threat… " Miles whispered quickly with a shaky voice and a nervous smile by the last two sentences, trying to reassure himself that he wasn't in danger. If anything, the " dog " seemed to have taken a liking to him, perhaps for bearing such a strong resemblance to its master. The idea that an animal could actually like him, and without him having to do anything for it, left him stunned and confused to the point of being speechless.

He didn't trust animals. How could he, when he couldn't predict what they were going to do to him? He didn't trust people, either, but at least they were easy to understand. Animals always tried to hurt him, just like people did, but at least people gave an understandable excuse. Animals would attack him on sight, even when he wasn't trying to hunt them out of desperation to survive, even when they had no reason to have a grudge against him. This robot with the mind of a common dog seemed to be performing an action on him that was completely non-threatening in spite of it. Why? " W-What do you want from me? " he stammered suspiciously, wanting it to leave him alone.

Still shaken and confused, it took several seconds for it to dawn on Miles that the robot pet was trying to get his affection. He had never given an animal affection before, mainly because he was terrified of them because they all wanted to hurt him, but now that he finally had at least one animal-like being actually appreciating his presence, and one that he would no doubt be pressured to not be cold to later on, there seemed to be no better time to try something he had never done before. There was a first time for everything, after all. Feeling like he was taking a huge risk, his trembling hand inched closer and closer to the robot's head until finally, it landed on it, and immediately started moving back and forth along it in a petting motion, unconsciously imitating how Scourge ruffled his hair every now and then.

At first, Miles was terrified, forcing a smile in spite of the instinctive fear that he would get bitten by sharp teeth for petting it, but after a few seconds had passed with T-Pup showing nothing but appreciation in return, he smiled in relief as he started to relax, petting the robot dog in content and feeling it soothe his frazzled nerves until, for once, he was at peace. There was nothing for him to worry about.

His shoulders relaxed from their raised tense state and he loosened up at last, after several seconds of having his muscles tightened painfully from panic and stress. " Oh, you're not so bad. You're not like the other dogs I've dealt with! " Miles said in a quiet voice that was relaxed and loving. " Of course, it's probably because you're a robot. If you were a _real_ dog, you would've… would've… " he added quietly, in a tone that was bitter and depressed. Remembering his past experiences with dogs once again, he continued his thought in his head with an unhappy expression, before shuddering at the painful memory, whispering, " Never mind, Miles, don't go there… " and forcing his attention away from it rather than reliving it over and over again.

Smiling from petting the smooth surface of T-Pup's head once more, Miles allowed it to rest on his lap as he watched the educational show on the television across from him, trying his best to distract himself from his worries and focus on the good. Sonic went into the room a while later and was alarmed at first, only to relax and smile at the sight in front of him, while Miles was slightly embarrassed and tried to distract him.

Things remained rather uneventful as Miles slowly recovered from his injuries, spending most of every day on the couch watching educational television with Tails or Sonic by his side, depressed that he wasn't doing anything productive to repay Tails for his kindness. Tails occasionally worked on his engineering in his workshop, but being away from Miles when he was injured and depressed made him feel so guilty that he was only able to do so for a few hours in the day before returning to keep him company.

Soon, he started renovating the house itself by adding what later turned out to be a guest bedroom to it, feeling guilty about Miles having to sleep on the couch. The guest bedroom was small, with only a bed in it, which Tails built himself and bought a mattress, pillows and blankets for, and Miles was stunned that he went through so much trouble for him when he didn't even have to. Having a bedroom of his own would certainly make staying with them permanently a lot more tolerable, even if he was still dreading being brought to the Freedom Fighters HQ as an ally for the first time. Tails wasn't aware of how long Miles was planning on staying, but figured that even if he wasn't there for long, a guest room could still be something the house could use one of. Sonic pitied Miles for the injuries he had and his emotional state, but was more concerned with what the reaction of his friends would be when they found out Miles was staying with him, and he wasn't looking forward to their reaction to the idea of him working for them.

Sonic and Tails had to inform the Freedom Fighters of Miles' desire to assist them, of course, as they would be a lot less likely to panic upon seeing him if they were told that he wasn't an enemy ahead of time, and given weeks to let it all sink in. Needless to say, they were wary and alarmed that Sonic and Tails were so willing to trust Miles and have faith in his desire to repay them, and only humored them out of respect. It was up to Sally to try to convince the king to allow Miles to work with her and be in the Freedom Fighters headquarters, and he was very suspicious to say the least. He only agreed to it under the condition that he be put under almost constant supervision, never left alone, with only the obvious bathroom breaks as the exception as long as he was in their base. He would consider his assistance of the Freedom Fighters to be community service that absolved him of his crimes, provided that he kept doing it, and he would not have Miles prosecuted in any way as long as he continued to help them. He also decided against informing Miles of this decision, being under the impression that he was only planning to work for them temporarily and would be disgruntled at the idea that he'd be punished with no back-up from his former allies the minute he stopped helping them.

With his injuries finally having healed two weeks later, Miles would've normally been relieved, but the healing of his wounds meant that he would have to re-experience something he had dreaded for weeks, being unwanted by the people around him. While Sonic and Tails had complete faith in him, the rest of the Freedom Fighters were rather bitter about the evil counterpart of Tails regularly assisting them on their missions, and their reactions ranged from suspicion and grudge-bearing skepticism to anxiety and fear, no matter how hard Sonic and Tails tried to reassure them of his good intentions and how he had apologized to Tails. The fact that he had no motivation or desire to pretend he had turned good wouldn't help, as he knew their friendship with him would feel fake if they thought he was someone he wasn't.

As Miles sat at the kitchen table dreading being taken with them to Freedom Fighters HQ, Tails reassured him as he put away the dishes in the morning, " I know you're nervous, but they're not gonna do anything to hurt you. They're just gonna need some time to get used to you, that's all. It's nothing personal against you per se, it's just that they're still thinking of you as, well, my enemy… as part of the Suppression Squad. They've only seen one side of you. They still think of you as hating me and everything, so they're not gonna believe things have changed until they see it for themselves. "

Sonic said cheerfully, " Exactly! Help us out enough, and they'll be warming up to you in no time! " Sitting at the kitchen table finishing the last of his pancakes, Miles remained silent, his head hung low, as his two new closest friends tried to reassure him in vain, as he knew that saying anything in response would be pointless. Sonic and Tails endlessly reassured him that eventually their friends would become used to him, spending the entire morning trying to cheer him up from his despondent and nervous demeanor, but they did nothing to lift his spirits. He knew exactly what was coming.

Filled with anxiety, sadness and dread, Miles had to force himself to enter the home base of his former enemies in the Freedom Fighters' base, staying close behind Sonic and Tails like his life depended on it. " Hey, guys, we're here! Me, Tails, and our _new_ temporary ally! " Sonic said happily leading Miles into the base with him, only to have his smile strained by the lack of enthusiasm he was met with. Miles fully expected to be greeted so coldly, but it didn't make it any less triggering, and as he was met with nothing but glares of contempt and anxious stares that refused to relent, he avoided everyone's eye contact unhappily, staring down at the floor in front of him trying to ignore their gaze.

How was he going to present himself to them now? He was trying to prove that he _wasn't_ their enemy. While it had become instinctive for him to act intimidating to avoid looking like an easy target, he wasn't sure if he could get away with covering up his anxiety with his usual expression of condescension, Scourge-like smugness or bitterness when that would only make their mistrust of him even worse. Unable to look, " dignified, " and feel safe from appearing too intimidating to harass, he looked to be a mixture of depressed and on edge, his lowered eyebrows not doing much to hide how intimidated he was.

Nicole felt sympathy for him right from the start, understanding that he felt like an outsider, and was interested in getting to know the real him, the sad, shy and scared little boy that almost no one understood. But he was too distracted by everyone else to notice, with the glares of Amy being the worst of all; Amy because she reminded him of Rosy the Rascal and so he feared her violent temper. His former enemies' untrusting stares taunted him unintentionally as his mind instinctively registered them as his old friends before Scourge changed their appearances, and so he felt heartbroken that they were regarding him with such contempt, as if they were looking at a monster, an outcast to be shunned.

Sonic, understanding how he was overwhelmed with the tense atmosphere of the room, tried lightening things up immediately with his forced cheerful attitude, saying enthusiastically, " Come guys, look alive! He's all healed up and ready to help the Freedom Fighters! Isn't that great, that he can help us out 'cause he's not badly hurt anymore? " There was an uncomfortable silence in response, as everyone stared at Miles for a few more seconds before slowly walking towards the kitchen table to have their lunches, in all that time watching him like a hawk. At the very least, Nicole was polite to him, saying with a nervous smile, " I-It's good to see that you've recovered without any complications, " and to his relief, Sally, Bunnie and Rotor nodded in agreement with her. At least they still cared about his well-being, even if they weren't doing a good job of showing it.

Trying to suppress his trembling, Miles sat at the kitchen table with them staring down at his lunch in paranoid anxiety, hoping it wasn't poisoned or spiked with medication to control him, and he hoped against hope that his depressingly familiar treatment was only temporary. After five seconds of hesitation, he reluctantly started to eat, and the pleasant taste did nothing to distract him from his situation.

Feeling unwanted and unwelcome, he wished that he wasn't being constantly reminded of how he felt on his home island, perpetually judged by those untrusting eyes that pierced into him from nearly every direction. " _Stop staring…_ _Please, stop staring…_ " Miles begged them in his thoughts, as Sonic and Tails tried to distract everyone with their usual cheerful chatter like everything was normal, with their fake awkward smiles masking their nervousness and pity. Fortunately, in spite of the thick choking atmosphere of tension in the room, Sally reluctantly humored them by not drawing much attention to Miles, telling everyone the plans for the day and going about business as usual. The only difference was that she had one more person to give orders to.

While the Freedom Fighters' daily lives weren't going to change all that much, with them still focusing a lot of their time on defeating the daily sightings of Eggman's robots and mechas, it was clear that they all had their eyes on Miles and weren't entirely comfortable with him silently working alongside them as if it was normal. He was never trusted to be alone. With the exceptions of nights and bathroom breaks, there was no escape from the stares, no time where he could let out his misery in private. Depressed at the constant atmosphere of mistrust and resentment, he had to keep everything to himself, staying silent to avoid drawing attention to himself that would be negative regardless of what he said, because he was a hated enemy who didn't belong in the group, who had no right to have any comment on their matters. He couldn't complain about how they were shunning him when no sympathy would result from it, because they would think he had no right to complain about their lack of trust when they had so recently been his enemies, and he hadn't even been able to bring himself to apologize, not that it would've made a difference in their suspicious opinion of him. He wasn't even sure if he could do it without breaking down in tears, mainly from the inevitable lack of forgiveness and understanding he would receive.

Unable to express how he was feeling about the situation, he only spoke when he had to, and when he did, he was uncomfortable, because he had to speak politely and quietly in a manner he viewed as meek in comparison to his usual speech, to make absolutely sure he wouldn't offend anyone, feeling like a shadow of his former self as he acted nothing like he did before. But even that didn't entirely help things, as people still looked at his behavior with suspicion and thought he would be planning to betray them at any moment, and that he was secretly thinking hateful and insulting thoughts about all of them, when in reality, the only hatred he had came from the fact that they shunned him without giving him a chance. He wanted them to like him, more than anything, but every time he looked at them, he remembered how understanding and considerate the Suppression Squad was of him, and was depressed that the Freedom Fighters weren't. They weren't being suitable replacements.

Never having to be alone wasn't something he objected to on principle, as the thought of being sent on missions into public places without anyone around him to vouch for him had him shaking in his boots in terror, but the loneliness from being almost completely cut off from emotional support was nearly unbearable. The universe taunted him by surrounding him constantly with people who were close friends who didn't share that friendship with him.

Was dealing with being shunned and hated by his own social group truly worth doing everything he could to repay Tails for saving his life? In the end, it was, but it didn't mean he would be happy with it. He wasn't sure how much more of it he could take.

In order to test his usefulness to their group, the Freedom Fighters brought Miles to a hill overlooking an army of Egg Pawns that were slowly walking towards the entrance road to Emerald Town, the suburbs near Station Square. At last, with a good view of the robots down the hill below them, everyone stopped and stood near where the hill sloped. Nicole, Bunnie, Antoine, and Sally were to the left of Miles, while Amy as well Sonic and Tails were to the right of him. They were all a little more warmly dressed than usual in response to the chilly autumn wind, with Rotor wearing a light gray scarf and jacket, Nicole wearing a light purple sweater and scarf, Bunnie wearing a brown Texas-style sweater with black buttons, Amy wearing a pink sweater and long red pants, and Sally wearing a light blue scarf with a blue sweater.

Finally revealing to Miles why they were going there after several minutes of walking there, Sally questioned, " The reason we all brought you here is this. What are you going to contribute to our cause? After all, while yes, we all know you're intelligent, we can't exactly let you make the plans. So your intelligence won't exactly help us. So what can you do that Tails can't? " A bit nervous about their potential reaction, Miles looked away saying quietly, " Well, actually… " and hesitated before explaining awkwardly,

" I barely even use the abilities I share with Tails anymore because they've since become obsolete. I've learned a lot about myself since the last time we met, and as a result, I've discovered a vast quantity of abilities that I never knew I had, mainly relating to my innate control over two forces of nature; electricity and the weather, both of which I was born with an instinctive mental connection with. " Smiling in excitement that he couldn't help but be bursting with, Miles exclaimed proudly, " Allow me to show you my greatest asset! " and turned to face the robot army on the ground behind and below him.

With that, Miles pushed towards the ground to create an uplift of air to launch himself high into the sky, moved his arm in a circle to create a dark thundercloud below him. Looking like he was high up in the sky riding on top of a thundercloud, he immediately got to work throwing lightning at the Egg Pawns in quick swiping arm motions, raining electricity down at the now panicking robot army. Moving quickly with a thrilled smile from being able to fight with his powers after weeks of inactivity, he fought the robot army at full strength, not holding anything back.

Responding to his dedication to the fight and letting his anger out, the wind picked up and started roaring around the army of robots surrounding it in a whirlwind so fast that it was visible from afar, all from a single thought from him. By moving his hands upwards with his palms facing the sky on either side of him, he created a barrier of golden electricity that surrounded the robot army from all sides and trapped them in his area of sight, and smirked cruelly at the hopelessness of their situation, before going right back to a thrilled childish smile of excitement at him thoroughly enjoying throwing bolt after bolt of lightning at them.

Feeling like he had to mix things up more in front of the Freedom Fighters, he rubbed two of his fingers against his thumb and mentally increased the amount of water vapor in the sky just above the robot army, causing clouds to appear above them and expand to cover the horizon just beyond him, clouds that grew dark to the point of casting a clear shadow on the army of Egg Pawns that were now being caught in a raging thunderstorm, the wind howling around them and the rain short-circuiting them in a furious downpour.

Knowing he had to hurry to show off the last power he wanted to, Miles shook his hand with its fingers bent upwards and facing the sky, starting with vibrating it from upwards to downwards and immediately reversing it, which reversed the temperature of the hill below him, freezing the air into large icicles that he summoned to trap the robots in, or what was left of them. He then shook his hands violently waving them in an abrupt upwards motion, making the large icicles shatter into pieces and melt.

Finished showing off his power at last, Miles sighed happily, and turned around with a relaxed smile of satisfaction, relieved that being able to vent out weeks of pent-up stress with a vicious onslaught of attacks on deserving targets, all while using the powers that he loved using so innately. But his happiness was transformed into anxiety and sadness at seeing how instead of being happy with him, the Freedom Fighters looked worried.

Sonic at least was impressed and happy for him, with a great big smile on him that reminded him of how proud Scourge was of him when he first learned to throw lightning in a fit of rage. He vividly remembered Scourge's voice in his head complimenting, " Come on, man, you can shoot lightning out of your hands! How is that not awesome?! "

But Sonic's impressed smile was replaced with a nervous but sympathetic expression upon realizing that he was the only one who reacted that way. Tails looked terrified, trembling with his pupils shrunken from his fear of lightning. Sally, Rotor and Bunnie all looked worried about the possibility of him using those powers against them or innocent people. Even Nicole had a worried expression, although it was at least overshadowed by her intrigue and curiosity, like she was interested in his powers and how he could have them and not Tails, rather than only thinking of them as a threat. He supposed he'd rather have her fascinated with him than scared. But even she feared him for them a little.

It was clear that the Freedom Fighters mainly viewed his display of power as proof that he had become too powerful. He sighed sadly, looking depressed from how disappointed and unwanted he felt. At least the Suppression Squad never feared his powers. They respected them and were happy for him for discovering how strong he really was.

Sonic, trying to stand up for him with a forced smile from the tension, said, " Come on, guys, aren't you happy?! Just look at how he thrashed Eggman's robots for us! Isn't that cool?! He could give Shadow a run for his money! " Most of the Freedom Fighters, remembering how sympathetic Miles looked mourning his previous allies, smiled nervously to try to reassure him and tried to calm themselves down with the knowledge that he had a heart. But Sally was still worried.

Sally, her eyes darting around nervously, responded cautiously, " I know, but… You said _temporary_ ally, remember. One of these days, he's going to use those powers against us, or against innocent people. While he's certainly powerful, he won't always use this for good. A-Although d-don't get me wrong, Miles! I _fully appreciate_ every time that you _will,_ " sounding scared of him by the end with a forced polite smile and laugh. Miles turned away, uncomfortable with making someone who reminded him so much of Alicia, afraid of him. This wasn't what he wanted from a friend.

" I'm not going to be your enemy again. I'm sick of that, " he mumbled quietly with a depressed tone in his voice. This caused everyone to look at him in surprise and shock for a couple seconds, making him feel self-conscious at the attention. Fortunately for him, Nicole was there to help him, saying, " He's telling the truth! " with a relieved tone of voice, giving the Freedom Fighters some good news. Wishing he wasn't being stared at, Miles said awkwardly, " I just, I was wasting my time. I have no reason to go back to that now. Y-You don't have to worry about a thing. I won't use my powers for things you'll disapprove of. There's no reason to, " scratching the back of his neck. Everyone smiled at him in response to that, and while some of the Freedom Fighters were still a bit nervous, their reaction was still enough to make him feel better.

When they all returned to the Freedom Fighters HQ, they went into the living room to watch a movie Sonic had bought, and Miles, who had no interest in any movies in the slightest, was thankful at being ordered by Sally, " Why don't you help out with the chores? The dishes need to be taken out of the dishwasher. Nicole, could you supervise him? " Nicole agreed, " Sure, " and went into the kitchen with Miles. He was expecting to spend the entire time he was in the kitchen dealing with an awkward and tense silence, but to his surprise, Nicole actually wanted to talk to him, and in a polite way at that.

She asked, " So does Tails have those powers too and just not know it yet? " looking curious and intrigued as she sat on the kitchen table chair watching him. She would've helped him, but it didn't seem like something that could be done with two people at once, considering how small the space in front of the dishwasher was.

" For the most part, no. He can't summon electricity or ice or fire, or make it rain or snow. I'd be surprised if he ever did. " Miles answered nonchalantly as he took the dishes out of the dishwasher putting them in the cupboard one at a time, showing no emotion in his tone to look dignified and cover up how stunned he was at her treatment of him.

Nicole thought to herself fascinated, " _He can summon fire, too? I wonder why he didn't show us that. Perhaps it's his least favorite power. But, why?... Wait a minute, something doesn't make sense here._ " She asked him, " You're the counterpart of Tails from another dimension. But you said you were born with all the powers you displayed, so it isn't as if they only became something you possessed from your training with magic. So how is it that you have powers that your prime counterpart doesn't? "

Miles, after briefly hesitating, finally answered emotionlessly, " Because if both of us had power over lightning, there would be a thunderstorm every other day and it'd be blatantly obvious. I know that for a fact. " His eyes darted around nervously as he worried that Nicole would become uneasy with him and upset with him upon figuring out that his mere presence increased the amount of lightning storms that occurred in the area, something that no doubt made life harder for Tails. He wasn't able to look over at Nicole to see her reaction to what he said, and as a result, he failed to see how she had an awestruck look of intrigue rather than being disapproving of him.

" T-To make a long story short, I was fortunate enough to discover a book on the history of two-tailed, foxes, in my dimension. Tails and I are a special variety of mutant who are officially called ' kitsune, ' and we developed our powers and, extra tail, as a result of an unusually large amount of the world's naturally occurring chaos energy affecting a fox before birth. " Nicole corrected in confusion, " Don't you mean anarchy energy? Since you're from that dimension and all? "

Miles responded, " Oh, same thing. Never understood why it has a different name for some arbitrary reason. Anyways, it turns out there have been various historical records of people like us being born for thousands of years, to the point where there's well-documented information on the different types of elemental abilities we can have. Which set of abilities a kitsune has is random, so Tails could've had the same powers as I did, but due to random chance, he didn't. There's a kitsune variety for all of the elements of nature, and even some more interesting ones like creativity, time and spirit. "

It was only by the end of his explanation that he realized how long he had been talking about the subject, and was embarrassed and frustrated with himself for blathering on for so long about it when she might not even believe he was telling her the truth. He couldn't help talking for so long about it when it was something he was so passionate about, and the fact that he barely got to talk about kitsune with anyone didn't help.

" I-I'm trying to summarize this the best I can, so I'll make this quick; there's only two kitsune varieties that have the power to fly by spinning their tails, the air kitsune, and the lightning kitsune, the most powerful variety of all. Which one do you think I am? " Miles said nervously and quickly, sounding frustrated. He hoped that he wasn't offending her with his irritated disposition, as it was more frustration with himself than with her. Nicole was a little upset, but acted like nothing was wrong to avoid worrying him.

" Fascinating! That explains so much! I have always wondered why Tails doesn't have his tails twisted around each other when he tries to fly with them, and that isn't even getting into the fact that no matter how fast he's somehow able to spin them, he shouldn't be able to provide enough lift to get off the ground. But your explanation makes perfect sense. It's chaos energy allowing him to achieve such a feat, and chaos energy that gives you all of your own powers. A living being born with so many powers, they're like a natural-born version of Shadow! " Nicole responded with a smile, happy to learn so much about Tails after years of knowing him. " _All this time, I thought he was merely a ' mutant. ' I never knew he had so much potential. Is this why Miles wanted him to focus more on his connection to Chaos Force over engineering?_ " Nicole thought.

Miles was stunned to hear a pleased and impressed tone from her, which caused him to stop what he was doing, and for once, he looked over to see her facial expression, and upon seeing her smiling at him, he was immediately grateful he did. " _I think I'm going to like this girl,_ " Miles thought with a warm smile, and turned back to the dishwasher to continue taking the plates and bowls out of it, absent-mindedly so lost in his own thoughts that he failed to realize he just let down his intimidating image and smiled sweetly in front of her.

Nicole was struck speechless. She never saw Miles smile sincerely before; she wasn't even sure if it was possible. When she saw that smile on him as opposed to a condescending look or an evil smirk, he looked like a completely different person. " _He looked like Tails!_ " Nicole thought, her eyes widened in shock at the heartwarming image.

That one thought made her conflicted to the point of being speechless, as she wasn't sure whether she should be filled with hope that Miles could become just as kind and cheerful as Tails from having a happier life, or if she should find it depressing and concerning that Miles was showing what he could've been but wasn't. She wasn't sure what that sweet smile meant, beyond gratitude at her appreciating him and his powers, which she hoped meant that they would have a close relationship as allies… even if it was only temporary.

There was a silence for several seconds after he smiled at her, before Nicole said to him understandingly, " Are you worried that Tails will be upset if he finds out what your presence does to the storm rate? I won't tell anyone, Miles, don't worry. " Miles was stunned at her display of compassion and understanding, and to him of all people. After a few seconds of being speechless and doubtful, he replied quietly, " Thank you, Nicole, " with a relieved smile on his face.

" _She knows what I am, she knows how powerful I am, and she… doesn't hate me for it?_ " Miles thought, not being sure what to believe. She accepted him for what he was. She didn't purely see his powers as something he was too dangerous to have. She even thought they were cool, just like the Suppression Squad. Finally having it sink in at long last, Miles smiled to himself, thinking, " _She'll be a good friend. I can already tell._ "

After being introduced to them as an ally for the first time, Miles was following the Freedom Fighters through a forest on his way to his first ever mission with them. He still hadn't told them all that he was more than just a temporary ally. He believed that the more missions he'd help out with, the more they'd get used to having him around, until eventually they would cease questioning it and accept his presence without complaint. Eventually, if he was lucky, they would grow to take his presence for granted, and fail to realize how long their " temporary " ally had been on their side until they had already warmed up to him. It would take time, but as long as he was subtle, he just might be able to get them used to him.

But just before starting the mission, Miles was startled by the sound of a gun being fired nearby, and vividly remembering every other time he had heard such a noise, he became hysterically frightened in an instant. He gasped sharply, trembling with his pupils shrunken and a horrified look on his face, and instinctively took off running into the woods behind him, forgetting in his panicked state that he was not permitted to leave Sally's sight.

Sally called out to him, " Hey, come back! " and Sonic immediately ran after him with Tails following behind him, causing the rest of the group to try to follow behind them in all the commotion. Miles ran as fast as he could, gasping to almost the point of hyperventilation as he moved as fast as he could, blasting wind out of his palms behind him to propel him forwards at 2128 miles per hour in desperation. When he had been running for over a minute, his mind flooded with flashbacks of all the times he had armed bullies or policemen chasing him down, he gasped and hysterically panicked after tripping on a thick tree branch and collapsing to the ground below, being immediately reminded of all the times he had tripped while being chased and being caught up to immediately by his bullies.

" NO! Not again! Please! " Miles exclaimed frantically, shaking uncontrollably. He pushed himself up off the ground as fast as he could, hearing the sound of people running up to him from behind making him increasingly frantic, and before he could completely lose all hope and start desperately trying to fight back, he recognized the familiar scent of someone he had grown to trust, someone that over the years he had grown to love like a member of his family and associate with kindness and love. As he found himself being helped up from the ground and pulled close in a hug, he put his arms around the person he believed to be his brother, holding him as if he was terrified that he would leave his side.

Still frightened, Miles begged him hysterically, " Sonic, please! Don't let 'em shoot me! Please! I don't wanna die!... It's not fair… " with tears escaping his eyes as he cried into his shoulder, his eyes squeezed shut with his heartbeat rapid and trembling uncontrollably. Looking worried and confused, Sonic reassured him, " It's alright, it's alright, no one's trying to hurt you! That was just a car engine backfiring, it happens all the time! Relax! " as the rest of his friends caught up to him in a hurry; Tails had reached Miles at about the same time, but in spite of clearly sensing his electromagnetic field nearby, Miles failed to react to his presence, being too focused on how many things were reminding him of his past experiences to even spare a single thought on the present. While he knew that Tails and the rest of his friends were nearby, he was too distracted to care.

" A car?... That's where the noise came from? " Miles said in a whispered voice, skeptical of his claim while wanting to believe it. " Of course! Come on, Miles, nobody's gonna be trying to shoot ya! Besides, even if that was true, I'd _never_ let 'em hurt ya like that. And neither would the rest of us. Right, guys? " Sonic reassured him, trying to force a smile in spite of the deeply upsetting situation.

It was at that point that Miles looked confused from hearing that there were other people around in support of him, and while he instinctively assumed they were the members of the Suppression Squad, opening his eyes revealed to him that Tails was standing behind Sonic as he let go of him, ending the hug at last. " Right! " Sally responded, getting his immediate attention, and he looked stunned from seeing the rest of the Freedom Fighters nodding in agreement with her, reassuring him that they would protect him, even in spite of everything he had done as their enemy.

His profound confusion at their sympathy for him snapped him back to reality, forcing him to remember them and the circumstances he was in from their complete absence from the memories he had been forced to relive. Upon realizing that he had looked hysterically frightened in front of the Freedom Fighters, and for what had turned out to be a flimsy reason, Miles awkwardly cleared his throat and looked away from them in embarrassment, trying unsuccessfully to look dignified again after having completely lost his composure. He couldn't believe how quick they were to feel sorry for him, instead of dismissing him as pathetic and irrational for being so easily frightened into hysteria, or thinking he was just putting on an act and treating him with suspicion and hatred.

He tried to hold back his tears as he said in his usual dignified manner, " Yes, um, of course. I-I knew I was not in any danger… I, I-I was only testing you, to, to see what you would do if I was in danger. A-And you passed! Congratulations, you passed. T-The mission shall resume! " His attempt at looking composed and dignified failed miserably from all the stammering he was doing in his blatant lies and the fact that he was still shaking. Everyone knew he was lying, but decided against pointing it out, knowing that no good would come of it.

With that, he started walking back to where he had first started running away, feeling uncomfortable and ashamed, and hoping he wouldn't be disapproved of for deciding to walk there first rather than following behind the people trying to supervise him. Fortunately for him, he had nothing to be worried about. Everyone unhappily kept themselves from inquiring too much into his emotional outburst, knowing that he wasn't willing to explain it in-depth and feeling sorry for him from the implications it had. While Amy and Sally were still very wary and untrusting of the evil genius insisting on helping them out, they couldn't help but be distracted from their suspicion of him by their pity, once again feeling sorry for him and wondering just what he had suffered through in the past.

Miles quickly became well-known for effortlessly destroying Eggman's robots and mechas by the dozens with his new abilities, to the point where some civilians said in impressed awe that he was unstoppable. While this slightly worried the people who didn't trust him, they at least appreciated the fact that he was using his powers for good, becoming an incredible asset to the Freedom Fighters when it came to combat situations. Eggman was terrified seeing how easily Miles could take on his robot armies; almost effortlessly ripping the electricity out of them, getting them all struck with lightning at the same time multiple times in a row, taking control of the electric charges running through their " nerves " in order to freeze them in place or make them fire their projectiles at each other or at his Eggmobile, and starting strong winds and thunderstorms as he summoned sharp icicles to throw in rapid succession.

Eggman soon realized that he had no choice but to start waterproofing all of his robots, as their short-circuiting by the dozens from the many thunderstorms Miles caused became something he would get rather sick of. He didn't fail to notice how Miles' presence caused the rate of thunderstorms in the area to increase by seven times the normal rate, and unfortunately for Miles, the Freedom Fighter watching the weather report regularly didn't fail to notice that, either.

Worried that he couldn't win against him in combat, Eggman at least hoped that manipulation would be the key in getting him out of the picture, and once tried to trick him into revealing that he was still evil after getting Sally to watch from behind a bush without his knowledge. " Come on, fox-boy, you're his evil twin. Do you really expect everyone to believe that you've suddenly changed? "

Miles nonchalantly and emotionlessly revealed, " I never tried to lie that I had suddenly converted to their ' heroic morals. ' They already know. It would be so blatantly obvious from my apathy and bitterness that there would be no point, " and quietly muttering so that only he could hear, " They'll hate me no matter what I do _regardless_ of what I say, " before finishing up more audibly, " The point is, I'm done wasting my time lashing out at the world and that's all that matters. And they know that. So your plan to turn Sally against me was a waste of your time, and everyone else's as well. You aren't revealing anything new, and you can't even if you try. It shouldn't matter that I'm not passionate about what they are, because I'm still accomplishing ' good ' regardless. Even if I always stay bitter, it won't matter if my actions won't reflect it. "

With that, Miles turned and walked away unhappily, looking only mildly annoyed with him. Eggman and Sally were baffled and dumbfounded, not expecting that he had sensed the latter's presence behind the bush, and Eggman left cursing his new enemy. Sally came up to Miles sheepishly at not trusting him, and there was an awkward silence that both of them disliked, before Miles said emotionlessly in an attempt at looking dignified, " Our mission is complete, " and started walking to the Mystic Ruins with her following behind him.

The next day, Miles was in the Freedom Fighters' kitchen doing the dishes with Sonic and Tails, who were trying to comfort him on his lack of success in earning the trust of their friends. Sonic, realizing how hopeless the situation looked, said unhappily, " I dunno, maybe if you opened up to them more, they'd realize you aren't so bad! It looks like all you're doing so far is staying quiet and looking like you don't wanna be around them. I know it feels risky trying to put your heart out to people who don't trust you, but maybe if you tried to be more approachable, you, wouldn't be making things so difficult… " Seeing his eye twitch in clear irritation, he hoped that he didn't offend Miles too much by making it look like he was blaming him for the situation he was in; he knew full well by that point how much it set him off to feel like he was the victim of victim-blaming. Tails briefly flinched when Miles snapped and ranted passionately,

" _They're_ the ones making things difficult! I'm spending every second that I'm _around_ them trying my _damn_ hardest not to offend them and none of it _matters_ because they can't let go of a grudge! I mean, I know I'm one to talk because _I_ can't stop hating humanity, but I have an _excuse_ for that, they did nothing but _shun_ and _beat_ me! And even _then_ I still don't _still hate_ your allies like I did in the past! It's not like they're still trying to hurt me! I-It's like I-I'm doing a-all the _work_ and th-they aren't even meeting me _halfway_ , they just continue to _hate_ me! Do you have _any_ idea how that feels?! I-It's like why do I even _bother?!_ B-But I _have_ to try because if I don't they'll just hate me even _more_ , and I'll be kicked out into the streets before I know it! And _then_ what am I supposed to do? I can't go back to being alone! It's like… "

Having finished doing the dishes at last, he trailed off upon turning around and noticing that Nicole, Antoine and Sally were standing at the entrance to the kitchen, and had heard the entirety of his rant. The anger and frustration cooled down immediately in him to be replaced with dread and anxiety, going pale with his ears slightly drooping as he sadly anticipated them hating and fearing him even more from what had been previously a cathartic, indignant rant. It was fortunate for him that they felt more sorry for him than anything else, considering that him speaking in a quiet voice when he did at all for so long had made his sudden switch to ranting passionately quite startling from the sheer fact that he raised his voice. The anger in his tone was something they were quickly able to forgive when he started to stutter and stammer, with his slightly breaking tone and heartbreaking revelations getting their immediate sympathy.

" It's okay, Miles… " Sally said calmly in a voice full of pity, being the first to reassure him that he wasn't in trouble. She realized for the first time that she wasn't just speaking with Tails' evil twin. She was speaking to someone who had been treated unfairly his whole life, someone who was so deprived of people willing to give him a chance that Sonic was his last resort and without him, he had nowhere else to go. It didn't sound like something he was only saying to manipulate Sonic and Tails. It was a rant that slipped out of him from bottled up frustrations, revealing how troubled he truly was.

With that, all three of them walked up to Miles and reassured him, with Sally giving him a comforting hug that he returned immediately. Miles was not acting like an eventual traitor who had concrete plans for what he would do after he left them. He was acting like someone who had run out of options and turned to them for help because they were the only people he had left. It was seeming increasingly unlikely that he would betray them when from his panicked emotional outburst, he reacted like it would be the end of the world for him losing them.

Sonic and Tails left Miles alone with the Freedom Fighters to get snacks, and much to his dismay, this caused an awkward silence that went on for a few seconds afterwards as he was stared at by everyone in the room. After being reminded of his vandalism of Knothole by a resentful Amy, Miles explained uncomfortably in an almost monotone depressed tone, " The only reason I did that is because Scourge ordered me to. The people of Knothole didn't do anything to me, so I never had a personal grudge against them. They didn't have anything against me, so if I had the _choice,_ I would've left them alone. "

He was uncomfortable throughout the entire explanation. Not only was it because he was subtly admitting his guilt over victimizing people who had nothing against him for once, but mainly because he was almost certain that he was being seen as just making excuses, and wondered why he was even bothering explaining his technical innocence in those crimes. He didn't see the point of apologizing if he wouldn't be believed or forgiven anyways.

" You wouldn't have bothered them because they did nothing to you? So, what about the people you terrorized on your _own_ planet? You're saying _they_ all _deserved_ it? " Amy said with her hands on her hips. " Exactl- oh, um… " Miles responded, before nervously realizing that Amy was disapproving of it. He promptly felt like an idiot for only digging himself deeper, and looked down at the floor to try to distract himself from how everyone in the room was staring at him in either anxiety or disapproval.

Convincing them to trust him would not be easy with him insisting on being honest about himself, but if he lied, their friendship with him would feel fake and meaningless because they wouldn't be caring about the real him. So he had to persuade them to not hate him the hard way, and he was starting to doubt it was even possible. Amy said disapprovingly, " Not exactly showing remorse there, mister. That's the exact opposite of an apology."

Miles didn't feel comfortable trying to explain to the Freedom Fighters exactly why he felt like his previous victims had deserved it. What if they didn't sympathize with him and hated him anyways for believing his crimes were justified, or worse, thought he deserved what he was put through? What if Antoine already told them and they just didn't care? He wasn't even sure if he could talk about the discrimination he went through without his voice breaking and looking weak and pitiful in front of them, and he was worried that even if they didn't accuse him of faking his sadness after that, they might start to see him as less competent for being psychologically compromised. So there was yet another awkward silence as he said nothing in his own defense, not having any faith that he could make them forgive him.

Another source of disapproval for Miles was his nonchalant usage of the words, " hell, " " damn, " and even, " bastard, " when he was at the height of his anger, mainly when he was fighting Eggman with them, and he was confused, surprised and worried about Sally, Tails, or even Sonic lightly scolding him for swearing and complaining that Scourge was a bad influence. At one point during breakfast, he was confronted on it after ranting bitterly once again. " Could you, you know, not use that kind of language around us? " Sonic nervously requested, hoping he wasn't going to upset him too much.

" What's wrong with that? They're just words, " Miles said in confusion. No friend of his had ever had a problem with him swearing before. " Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dictate to you how you _should_ talk. I'm not THAT controlling. I-It's just that when you use that kinda language, it doesn't sound like you. It sounds like Scourge, " Sonic explained. Miles looked away in mild embarrassment as he responded meekly, " Well… " knowing full well that he _was_ the reason he spoke that way.

" I mean, you usually talk like all sophisticated, like an intellectual, so when you suddenly start using curse words, it's jarring. Plus there's the fact that you're trying to help world-famous heroes who don't really talk that way, so, you kinda stand out, " Sonic continued awkwardly.

Looking depressed at the final sentence, Miles said with downcast eyes, " I'm sorry. I-I've been speaking that way since I met him. If I stopped, I'd feel less like myself. I already have to restrain myself so much… Maybe I should just stop speaking entirely… " wondering if he would ever truly be accepted among the Freedom Fighters, or if he was just too different.

" D-Don't worry, it's not a big deal, you don't have to talk like us. We're not the kind of people that'll hate and avoid someone just for bad language. Shadow says those words, too. It's not something on the top of the list of stuff you have to stop doing with us, you know? It's just a bad habit… from a bad influence, " Sonic explained, with a nervous smile for most of it until the last sentence made him look resentful, more annoyed with Scourge than anything else.

Even when he said those words in a good mood in a casual context, it made people uncomfortable, and it was especially frustrating in that sense, as him being in a good mood meant he was coming out of his shell and loosening up around the Freedom Fighters, only to be shot down again and forced to withdraw once more for not being enough like them. Even Nicole, his closest friend among them aside from Sonic and Tails, didn't like how those words were a normal part of his vocabulary.

And that wasn't the only way in which he felt like an outsider. He often felt ignorant around everyone else, as due to him not having any interest in works of fiction like TV or movies, he lacked a lot of common knowledge that everyone else, especially the people of Sonic's dimension, were aware of, so everything from pop culture references to the very concept of a " comic book " went straight over his head. He wanted to keep looking aloof rather than expressing any interest in those things by trying to learn about them, and he didn't want to potentially wreck his " genius " reputation by revealing that he didn't know so many commonly known things. So he felt awkward when hearing the Freedom Fighters or people in general talk about pop culture or fiction when he had no knowledge of it himself.

He was pressured to keep the spikes in his bracelets retracted when he wasn't in a combat situation, as not only did they make him look evil and intimidating – failing to understand that it was the point - but they made his more nervous teammates like Sally and Rotor wary that they might be hurt by them if they went too close. He felt uncomfortable with the idea and how it made his bracelets look different and harmless, resembling the black cufflinks on Tails' gloves instead. But after briefly pointing out in annoyance that, " I've never hurt myself or any of my associates with those spikes, " he was lectured by Sally on safety and image yet again.

Because of that, Miles reluctantly agreed, " Very well, " and flipped the switch on his bracelets to bend the spikes back into them forming a harmless metallic ring in the center, retracting the spikes for most of the day. He was hoping that it would speed up the amount of time it would take for half of his new allies to finally stop staying an arm's length from him whenever possible; while Antoine, Nicole, Sonic and Tails had no problem with being close to him and giving him comforting gestures, Rotor, Amy and Sally were still wary around an evil twin in spite of the sympathy they felt for him. It was frustrating how they knew that he could care deeply for someone other than himself and yet they still only thought of him as a troublemaker. And being forced to keep the spikes on his bracelets retracted most of the time only made that visually clear every second of the day.

He was always going to have the spikes out in public regardless and was at least thankful he was still permitted to do that. He wasn't trying to look outright intimidating to the Freedom Fighters anymore, he merely wanted them to continue not hurting him. It was bad enough that Amy was still holding a grudge against his old condescending behavior, occasionally tricking him or insulting him to his face. He knew very well that even Bunnie would often complain about his past evil deeds when he was taken out of the room, even though she was one of the people defending him most of the time, and hearing Sonic and Tails try to defend him to no avail didn't reassure him. He wondered if Antoine being expected to tell them about his experiences with him on Moebius was truly helping his case, or if they were just focusing on the evil he was committing with the Suppression Squad that Antoine was possibly being pressured to talk about first and foremost.

While he understood the social and even pragmatic reason for it, he wasn't entirely comfortable with changing his outward appearance in even a slight way from what it normally was, just to make him more accepted in a new social group; he felt a slight loss of identity as a result, as if they could only like him for what they could change him into, rather than who he was. He was grateful that they at least weren't pressuring him to change his hairstyle and stop dying his hair as well – he would never want them to make him look just like Tails despite being a separate person from him.

He was also thankful that they were at least courteous enough to let him get sweaters that had the same style as the ones he wore in the Suppression Squad, with Sally taking advantage of her power and wealth to arrange for Miles getting new custom turtleneck sweaters made for himself with the same distinctive square design in the center of them. Surprisingly, some of them were in blue, having a color formed by a mixture of dark and light blue dots of sweater material forming a calm and harmless color reminding him of the sea, and to his own surprise, Miles actually liked it. " It looks good in blue… " he commented quietly with a small smile at Nicole, whose idea it was.

" But why? Why make it look different? " he asked. Nicole explained shrugging, " We figured society might find it easier to accept that you've changed if you change the way you look on the outside, at the very least with your clothes. " Miles replied bitterly in a depressed tone, " Yeah, there's no surprise, society only caring about how someone looks, " to Nicole's sympathy, as Antoine had told her a lot about how much he had suffered because of that.

As a result, while he was found by Tails possessing only the clothes on his back, he at least didn't end up spending most of his time wearing completely different-looking clothes from the ones he wore with the Suppression Squad, despite only having one sweater, pair of boots and bracelets starting out.

Compared to everything else he was allowed to keep the same, having to keep his bracelets safe most of the time was a minor price to pay. Miles was lucky they weren't sending him to anger management from seeing the amount of rage he let out fighting Eggman's mechs, and that they instead appreciated how it made him fight harder and he was at least saving his anger until he could channel it into something productive. Since he spent most of his time around them silent looking mildly resentful at worst, it made sense considering that he clearly knew how to hold back his anger already, even in the face of constant unfair treatment; it was still clear even weeks later that he was the least favorite of the group, in spite of everyone acknowledging that he had a heart and had been treated unfairly in his past.

Unfortunately, his sweaters wouldn't all look exactly like his old ones for long. Only a day after taking Miles in as an ally, Sally made the decision one meeting, " A badge having the Acorn emblem will be placed onto the side-center of your sweaters to make it obvious that you're working for us. " This was partly as a test of his loyalty to see how he would react; if he reacted with anger and disgust, she would know that he still hated them and wasn't truly loyal. Miles awkwardly scratched the back of his neck looking down and away from her and quietly agreed, " Alright, " not sure if he'd ever get used to wearing it. All it did was make him start thinking about how he was no longer with the Suppression Squad every time he looked down at it, and he didn't need another reason to get depressed at his own reflection in the mirror.

After putting it on, he at least smiled a little in a sweet if nervous way, and said, " It looks good, " in a more hopeful tone, starting to like the idea of wearing a badge making official his new allegiance. He also liked having something in his reflection to focus on aside from his tails for once. Nicole, Antoine, Sonic and Tails smiled in relief at that, and no one else in the room seemed worried or suspicious either.

But wearing a badge of a social group that he didn't always belong to and used to fight against with his closest friends was unusual to him at first, and he once again felt lost and uncertain at the slight change in his outward appearance and therefore persona shown to the world. That combined with him not rebelling against society anymore, and he was feeling a loss of identity, being acutely aware of how different he was acting and looking.

Because of this, he was grateful that he was still at least showing off his powers in combat as he used to, reminding himself that he was still in fact the same person. He hadn't changed, too much. In fact, because he was fighting against robots and was allowed to be as destructive towards them as he wanted provided there was no collateral damage, he savored the combat missions as a brief highlight of it all, taking out all of his pent-up frustrations and anguish out on them as a thunderstorm raged on in the background, even if it intimidated people in the process; if anything, that made it all the better, warning people not to mistreat him. And any time he came close to causing property damage or hurting innocent people by accident, he used his powers over the wind to heroically prevent that from happening, gasping and panicking before doing so, getting the good will of any witnesses nearby.

It wasn't long before Sally decided that Miles should see Tails' doctor for a check-up, mainly in a response to him acting nervous and uneasy when she questioned him on how long it had been since he had gotten any vaccines. Before he knew it, Sonic was taking him to the doctor's office, and he was silent and full of dread the whole time, with Sonic assuming it was purely because of the fact that he was going out in public where everyone in Station Square would notice his presence rather easily.

After taking a train to the city where Miles avoided looking at all the passengers staring at him, they walked along the sidewalk on their way to their clinic. The only reason they didn't run to their destination to get it over with faster was that Miles didn't know the way to the doctor's office or what it looked like, and while he trusted Sonic not to leave him behind and knew he was fast enough to keep up with him, he didn't want to risk either of them running out in front of any cars. The last thing Miles wanted was to be hit by a car again. The last time that happened to him, he ended up being kidnapped for weeks. " _At least he gave me medical attention for it,_ " Miles thought as he reflected back on the man he ran out in front of several years ago, " _even if he was so bitter over wanting to do that for me that he bullied me…_ " he thought resentfully as he followed Sonic into the doctor's office at last, with the resulting look on his face getting everyone around him worried.

Sonic walked up to the receptionist in the waiting room, a young woman with black hair in a short ponytail, and said, " Yeah, I'm here with a new patient for Dr. Howzstater, " being casual while Miles awkwardly looked down at the floor nervously with his arms crossed. The receptionist looked up at the child in front of her and she nodded understandingly after her eyes widened in recognition, which Sonic didn't fail to notice. " So I see he'll have two patients called Miles, " she dryly joked with a cocked eyebrow and smile, trying to lighten the mood. Sonic chuckled and said,

" Yeah, but he's the only one who will go by it, so it's fine. He hasn't had a check-up in a while, and we don't have his medical records from his old doctors, whoever they were, so we're not sure if he's all caught up on his vaccines or anything? " He said in a quieter voice to her so Miles wouldn't overhear, " And he's not talking much about any previous ones, so, is the flu one ready yet? I know it's autumn. " Miles looked suspicious and nervous at Sonic speaking more quietly to her, knowing in a properly paranoid way that he must have been talking about him, only to become anxious at her saying, " Yes, it's ready, " and worrying that he would have to deal with his least favorite part of any check-up.

The receptionist proceeded to tell Sonic, " Your appointment will be in just a few minutes, have a seat, " and Sonic said cheerfully, " Alright! " stretched and yawned, before saying to Miles, " I'm just gonna take a quick bathroom break, if you don't mind, " with a cheeky grin. Looking over at all the different people in the waiting room who were staring at him the entire time, Miles gasped and said nervously, " What?! But Sonic! " Not wanting to look pathetic, he had to hold himself back from finishing his thought, " _Why are you going to leave me here all alone?!_ "

Sonic strained a smile, remembering how Tails used to be that way, and quietly reassured him, " The people of Station Square aren't gonna hurt ya, Miles. I'll be right back. " With that, he ran into the washroom in a blue blur, leaving Miles standing alone with his outstretched hand soon dropping to his side dejectedly.

Trying to avoid trembling, he reluctantly turned to face the various people sitting in chairs in the waiting room, looking away from their eyes as some of them continued to stare while others pretended to not be paying attention. One man was reading the newspaper, despite being suspiciously stuck on the same page since he entered the building. Unfortunately for Miles, there were exactly two chairs in the waiting room that were empty, with one of them being on the edge of a row of chairs in front of a window with a brown-haired woman sitting to the left of it, and the other having an intimidatingly bulky-looking construction worker sitting beside it.

To the surprise of no one, Miles chose to sit beside the harmless-looking brunette woman, shaking in fear as he quickly went up to the empty chair, sat down next to the stranger and looked down at his boots ignoring everyone with his arms crossed. " It's okay, Miles, " the woman reassured him, which made him jump startled at being addressed by a stranger at all, before looking embarrassed and frustrated with himself. " Do you think anyone here is about to hurt you? " she asked him in a gentle concerned tone that he recognized from Alicia. He turned to face her looking stunned, sad and confused. He had never been spoken to like that by someone as old as her before; the people who showed him any compassion were always restricted to teenagers.

" N-No, n-no one would be foolish enough to pick a fight with me, " Miles replied quietly, trying to appear proud and intimidating when his stammering and quiet voice gave his cowardice away. The woman raised her eyebrows at his reaction, but continued to appear sympathetic, and nodded understandingly. This confused him even more. He had a feeling she was acting in a certain way, a way that anyone should instinctively find familiar and be reminded of someone close to them because of it, but something was missing in his life that made him unable to fully understand.

The closest comparison he could make to her was Alicia, the one who was the most understanding and accommodating of him in the Suppression Squad, but even she wasn't a proper comparison because she was too young compared to her. She was more like an older sister if anything, at least as far as he could understand; he considered all of the Suppression Squad as family, but in terms of describing exactly what family figures each of them were, he was confused and hopeless, having no firsthand experience with how it felt to actually have any family member for real. So he may have thought of Alicia as his sister, or he may have loved her in a romantic way or even viewed her as a mother figure for all he knew… " _A mother figure?_ " he was led to think in realization from his train of thought, wondering if the woman beside him was acting that way. She looked old enough to be his mother, the mother that abandoned him, and the idea that she was trying to act like one provoked old hostility in him from sheer principle.

" Of course… " he muttered to himself looking away from her, his arms and legs crossed and scowling. " What's wrong? " the woman asked unhappily, and he replied bitterly, " I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to manipulate me by acting in a ' motherly ' way, and it's not going to work. I trust _no one_ who hasn't proven themselves to me. " The woman looked sad, her eyes darting around the room clearly thinking about him and his reactions, judging him, but not in a judgmental way. It was confusing. If she was judging him, why didn't she hate him? Why didn't she view him as weak like Buns did, or as a condescending brat like the Freedom Fighters used to?

There was a chance that she wasn't like either of them, that she was showing him genuine compassion and sympathy, and despite not knowing him as well as his friends did. Just thinking about the possibility that he was being rude to one of the rare strangers who cared about him made him tear up, and after rapidly blinking in a preventative measure, he said reluctantly in a quiet voice, " I apologize for being rude. If you're sincere about your sympathy, you don't deserve to be punished for it. I-I haven't received that very often from a stranger, as you can probably tell… "

After letting it all sink in, the woman smiled warmly at him and replied, " That's alright, Miles. That was very considerate of you, apologizing, but I hold no grudges, " in her old understanding way exactly as she had before – something that Miles had to resist being frustrated about and paranoidly believing she was faking being sad earlier. Her smile soon became replaced with a worried expression before she said with a nervous smile, " I'm not sure if we'll ever meet again, " which made Miles incredibly sad and anxious, having never met any compassionate stranger only one time and never again before, and he was distracted from that depressing train of thought when the woman pulled a card out of her jacket and handed it to him saying quietly so no one but the two of them could hear, " But this doesn't have to be the only time. If you ever want somewhere to relax where you can talk to me, why don't you come to my office? It's close by. "

Miles looked at the business card with his eyes widened holding it with both hands, with a sad, anxious expression on his face. It read, " Dr. Amelia Albright, Child Psychologist. " Holding back his impulsive defensive reaction to the insinuation that he needed help, he reminded himself how kind she was to him to calm himself down, and said politely with a nervous smile, " Thank you, Albright. I-I'll see if I can bring myself to ask any of the Freedom Fighters permission. Don't count on it for some time, " hiding the business card in his sweater pocket.

He knew that she might be the only person for the time being that he'd be able to speak with about what was bothering him without risking being judged by any of the Freedom Fighters, who he needed to keep the approval of, while with her, there was no risk. While he felt comfortable around Nicole and had lots of different conversations with her, there was still a risk that if he told her something Sally might disapprove of, word might get out to her. With a stranger, with no connection to the Freedom Fighters, he could be completely honest.

Before he knew it, Sonic had left the washroom to return to the waiting room at last, and the receptionist, conveniently enough, told him right away, " The doctor is ready for you two. "

Miles reluctantly stood up from the chair and followed Sonic out of the waiting room as he remembered why he was dreading the check-up in the first place. He entered the room slowly and forced himself to sit down in front of the doctor, resisting the urge to hold onto Sonic for comfort as he started shaking again. The doctor reassured him, " The nurse is getting things ready for us. Don't worry, you won't be here for long, " and started giving him the typical check-up that a child of his age would be given.

Sonic was a little worried by what the doctor seemed to be discovering. His stethoscope revealed that Miles' heart rate was more rapid than Tails' was, even when he told him to breathe deeply and slowly to calm himself down. He dismissed it as him merely being anxious, however, much to the relief of Miles, who didn't want him worrying Sonic even more than he already would. In truth, he was well aware of how the increased amount of stress he had to deal with put a strain on his own heart and immune system, and he wasn't comfortable with Sonic finding out about it so soon. He would figure it out eventually from him getting sick more often than Tails, particularly with mild fevers and coughing fits, and he wanted to put that off for as long as possible.

The doctor also proceeded to lightly tap his knee with the small " hammer " to test his reflexes – which he learned from his startled response were oversensitive – and tell him to read the letters on a poster across the room out loud to test his vision. Unfortunately, there were two things Sonic ended up learning about Miles from that. The first was that Miles didn't know how to pronounce the names of all the letters of the alphabet, implying he wasn't as well-educated as his vocabulary suggested, as he had to awkwardly sound out the letters instead of calling them by their proper names. The second was that despite being identical in DNA to Tails, he might be a lot closer to needing glasses than him, squinting desperately at trying to read most of the letters on the eye chart. At present, his vision was serviceable, but he was coming closer to being officially nearsighted, and it confused and worried Sonic who wondered how it could've been possible. Miles knew the answer, but he didn't want to scare and worry him with the news that he had been bullied so harshly that it might have given him permanent internal damage.

It wasn't until the nurse came into the room holding a syringe that the check-up really started to get him anxious, and the instant she walked over to him holding it, he gasped and hugged Sonic's chest terrified, his pupils shrunken in an instant with a haunted expression on his face. Concerned for the child resembling Tails trembling in response to her, the redheaded nurse reassured him, " Don't worry, Miles, it's to keep you from getting the flu. It'll only take a second. "

Sonic was full of pity and concern for him as Miles hugged him a little more tightly and exclaimed hysterically, " Please, no, think about what you're doing! I'm too young to die! _Please!_ " Sonic thought, " _Oh, man, what kind of mishaps has he been through?_ " and returned the hug to hold him close, reassuring him, " It's okay, it's okay, Miles, relax! It's to _prevent_ you from getting sick. What else could it be? She's a nurse, she'd lose her job if she did anything to hurt you. "

The nurse slowly and cautiously walked up to him, shushed him while placing her hand on his shoulder, and quickly gave him the needle while doing so, thankful that Sonic was holding him still. His anxiety spiked tremendously while it was happening, and it didn't seem to alleviate when it was finished, as he started quietly sobbing into his chest. He was hysterical, with the closeness and scent of someone he trusted so implicitly being his only tether to reality. As far as he was concerned, he was back on his home island, tormented by flashbacks to when he was four years old and someone pinned him to the ground of the woods and tranquilized him with a needle, mockingly calling it a vaccine as he chased him down, like so many other bullies had chased him down with needles in the past. He remembered how he managed to survive being thrown off that cliff and landed near the house of his next kidnapper, yet another person who took him in when he was injured just to verbally and psychologically abuse him, taking their frustrations out on him for " tricking " them into giving him medical attention because they didn't notice his second tail in time. If it weren't for the sunken cost fallacy, he wouldn't still be alive.

As Miles was lost in thought, the nurse commented with concern, " I've never seen anyone react that strongly to a needle before. This goes far beyond a mere phobia! What happened to him? " Sonic sighed unhappily, stroked the back of his head as he reassured him, " You feeling alright, kiddo? " He quickly caught himself and apologized, " Sorry, I mean- " assuming that he was offended by being treated like a kid, only for Miles to stammer, " I-It's okay, Sonic, I'm not upset. It's sweet coming from you!... I-I'm not scared, I was… " finally back in touch with reality.

Sonic slowly ended the hug feeling guilty about doing so, and Miles reluctantly forced himself to let go. Still trembling, he tried to smile briefly at him to act like nothing was wrong with him, before saying to him in confusion, " Aren't you cold? " Sonic looked puzzled at that reaction, before saying proudly, " Nah, I'm fine. Remember, you're talking to someone who runs through windy fields in the fall and freezing ice mountains without a jacket on a regular basis! An air-conditioned doctor's office is nothing for me! "

Miles stared at him confused with a cocked eyebrow for multiple seconds, still trembling from getting a needle earlier, before it finally dawned on him why Sonic wasn't wearing a leather jacket. He promptly felt like an idiot, internally called himself insane, and stood up with a forced nervous smile trying to distract him from potentially figuring him out, mentally berating himself.

" Are you sure you're okay to walk home? " Sonic asked Miles as he slightly stumbled towards the door, fortunately not figuring out his little slip-up. Feeling light-headed, Miles continued trembling as Sonic walked up to him, put his arm around him, and he leaned on Sonic as he started getting blurry vision with a whirling sensation. His body was still convinced that he had just been tranquilized again, and the placebo effect of that combined with his hysterical panic still not entirely dealt with was causing him to feel faint. His eyes half-closed as he stared at the tiled floor below him, he heard the low voice of the doctor nearby say to Sonic, " Let him rest on the bed, " and he was guided to the small hospital bed in the corner, just in time for him to collapse into it in exhaustion. His vision was obscured entirely by red dots as he closed his eyes slowly, and within seconds, he had passed out from sheer fright at being given a needle again, too absorbed in flashbacks to be humiliated at it happening in front of Sonic.

" Man, the poor kid… " Sonic said sympathetically about Miles, sitting at his bedside stroking his hair like he did with Tails. The doctor and nurse wondered if he realized that he was treating Miles in that specific way, and decided to stay quiet, not wanting him to stop when it may have been the only thing keeping him together. Sonic wondered if he should confront him over it and ask if he had that reaction normally, or simply stay quiet and take him home as if the whole thing never happened.

Whether it was a meeting or a casual get-together in the living room, Miles would always sit next to Sonic, and if that wasn't an option, he'd sit next to Tails, and if he couldn't sit beside either of them, he would always try to sit beside Antoine, who reminded him so strongly of the friend he tried to have as a substitute brother figure when Scourge left, to the point where he still felt the same strong emotional attachment despite knowing he wasn't Patch. Fortunately for him, the year he spent with him disguised as Patch had long since gotten him used to the idea that he was like an older brother figure to him, and he acted just like one, giving him reassuring gestures and comforting him when he needed it. Bunnie often looked at the sight thinking with a smile, " _He'll make a great dad._ "

Hearing Antoine speaking would help calm him down from a state of severe unease or fear because he only heard one person in his life with that kind of accent, and only after the part of his life that he was absorbed in. So the sound of a French accent combined with the distinctive voice immediately reminded him of a close friend and reassured him that he was not among enemies.

Bunnie was more inclined to forgive Miles than the more paranoid Sally was, even if she still started out wary of his criminal reputation. She appreciated every time he didn't take the opportunity to be rude, and always remembered them to thank him and be polite to him, in a way that felt more sincere than when Sally did the same thing. She would reassure him often, noticing more and more how certain things scared him or set him off, like the sound of a fork scratching on a bowl, and this caused the Freedom Fighters to wonder what happened to him to give him that fear. His fear at seeing someone chop vegetables with the kitchen knife staring at it with a look of dread on his face before forcibly looking away wasn't something that went unnoticed, nor was his uneasiness at seeing rulers or crowbars in Tails' lab.

He was so untrusted that one of the Freedom Fighters was always pressured by Sally to follow him to the bathroom and wait outside the door the whole time just in case, and he took extra time in the bathroom to cry in private, having the loud sound of the rushing water from the tap drown out his sniffling and gasping. When he was asked why his face was wet later on, he would reply quietly that he was washing it for the sake of good hygiene. Things that he could potentially use to cause trouble in the washroom and the base in general were kept out of his reach, kept in locked cabinets with a fingerprint scanner in most cases, which felt demeaning to him, as if he was being treated like a toddler and they needed to keep things out of his reach.

Sally was the main proponent of all the paranoid measures against him, both out of fear of being betrayed by Tails' evil twin and to reassure people outside of the group who didn't trust him. But in spite of that, she still cared about him and tried to be polite to him, never insulting him and always saying, " Thank you, " for his help. Eventually, she even started to smile at him. It went from her trying to keep him from snapping and betraying her out of disgruntled revenge, to her sincerely appreciating his help and new polite behavior around her and wanting to reassure him and reward his harmless behavior.

Miles never showed any interest in Rotor's engineering or Tails' for that matter, but he at least was appreciated for not being openly disrespectful, and Rotor didn't fail to notice his concern for Tails and Sonic's wellbeing, especially Tails, who he was rather overprotective of, wanting him to focus more on his inventing over combat in spite of his lack of respect for it.

Miles still missed his violin, which he didn't think he was able to get away with bringing with him from Moebius. Once again, he was feeling a loss of identity from not being able to keep to his daily routine of practicing it or the piano, and his depression at not being accepted was only made worse by the lack of a musical instrument for him to play, and the anxiety that going weeks without playing one was making him out of practice and rusty, somehow losing the years of skills he had built up. He was too shy and afraid to voice his complaint, though, worried that it would be asking for too much, especially considering that he felt he was lucky he was even allowed to be around them in the first place. It wouldn't be until he was more trusted and accepted that he would receive a violin as a Christmas gift, a few months after Tails had saved his life.

In the meantime, he was given a radio to listen to by Tails, who had learned from Antoine that his evil twin was a music lover, and Miles was delighted that the radio was full of songs he never heard before. He was slightly disappointed that the songs of Mobius were mostly happy songs he couldn't relate to, involving relationships most of the time, rather than being hard rock songs full of sadness and anger that he could relate to. This gave Sonic an idea for gifts for him.

Ever since he started going to the Freedom Fighters' base with Sonic, he was always thankful that he at least got to go back to Sonic's home and have tea every evening. Being able to have his favorite drink in peace without being stared at suspiciously was soothing and relaxing to him, calming his frazzled nerves after a hard day. Sonic and Tails made sure to have tea on the grocery list every week for him.

Tails turned on the lights in Miles' room to wake him up one morning. Naturally, he was tired and groggy from having gotten back to sleep after waking up miserable at 4 in the morning, so being suddenly told to wake up to the bright light of his room's lightbulb wasn't a pleasant sight. " Wakey-wakey! Time for a new day! " Tails said cheerfully, hoping it would lighten things up for his grumpy evil twin, who slowly forced himself out of bed rubbing his eyes.

" You know what would be nice? A light switch that doesn't blind me when it's turned on in the morning. It should at _least_ have the decency to start out dim first! " Miles complained under his breath, looking irritated. " You mean a dimmer switch? I could give your room that! " Tails said in excitement as Miles held his aching head sitting down. Snapped out of his annoyance by what he said, Miles was stunned and dumbfounded for a moment, and said in sad confusion, " What? You, you don't have to waste time on that for me… "

While he appreciated Tails doing favors for him without even being asked to, he was worried that him going through all that trouble for him frequently would be pushing his luck, and a part of him didn't feel like he had earned it. He already had to struggle with feelings of self-loathing and regret as it was, getting increasingly less comfortable with remembering the crimes he would commit with his friends, rather than merely justifying his actions to himself and not thinking anything further into it. It had only been a month since Tails had saved his life, and he was already started to worry that he was changing him.

Caught up in excitement over his idea, Tails said happily, " No, it's okay! I've got inventor's block anyways, so this is a godsend! I'd love to make that for you. A light switch that can naturally adjust to how large a person's pupils are would be pretty cool! And it would only focus on the person with the lowest brightness tolerance, obviously. This could revolutionize light switches the world over! Hee hee. Anyways, don't worry about that. Breakfast's almost done! " With that, Miles reluctantly left the room following Tails, still looking confused and unhappy. He wondered if he would ever get used to his luckier counterpart being friends with him.

Sitting at the meeting room table with his hand on his chin apathetically, Miles stared at Bunnie and Antoine's lovestruck interactions with each other and ended up smiling before he knew it, and wondered why he wasn't getting envious of their obnoxiously perfect relationship when he himself was so deprived of love. Instead, he felt comforted and relaxed from seeing that there was a happy married couple in his life who he could rely on. He wondered if this stemmed from a long-standing desire to finally have parents in his life, normal conventional parents in a stable relationship with each other who were always there for him, rather than having either parents who weren't there, or substitute " parental figures " that were either almost never there for him or weren't actually in a relationship. Lost in thought from wondering if he could get them to parent him like he may have wanted, he was snapped out of it when he realized that all of the Freedom Fighters were staring at him confused about why he was having that happy reaction, and anxiously looked down in embarrassment.

It was a rainy Wednesday, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters were having yet another secret meeting regarding Miles where Antoine told them more about him, which Miles estimated was only an excuse to insult him behind his back for his interactions with them as an enemy. This time, it was Sally who had decided to keep an eye on Miles on the living room couch, having the television on to keep him from becoming too bored, A news forecast mentioned regular crime being committed in various areas of the world as usual. Testing him, Sally sarcastically asked him if he felt sorry for any of the crime victims mentioned on the news. Caught in a sour mood, Miles bitterly showed no sympathy for the victims in the slightest as if they deserved it, complaining about how people are all cruel and heartless and can't stand anyone who is different from them in any sense. " I don't see why I should care, " he grumbled in an almost whispered hiss of resentment. He didn't see the point of trying to lie to her about it and not express his frustration when she would see right through it and hate him regardless.

" You have issues… " Sally muttered under her breath, unaware that Miles could hear her as she got off the couch rolling her eyes. She left the room to get a snack from the kitchen, planning to give him a scolding if she caught the evil genius misbehaving in the time he wasn't around. The only reason she decided to leave him alone for a second in the first place was from all the times Antoine, Sonic and Tails kept insisting to her that he could be trusted, and she hoped that Miles would prove them wrong.

When Sally returned to the living room, she saw Miles faced away from her with his head low, sniffling every so often with his hands in front of his eyes. Approaching him slowly in confusion and suspicion, she gasped at seeing Miles crying quietly on the couch, and realized that her insult had hit too close to home. She didn't entirely trust the troubled child not to lash out at her from her attempt at an apology, and worried that he would only push her away and tell her to leave him be, but she couldn't stand the idea of not doing anything at all to undo what she did. Hesitating briefly from not knowing how he'd react, Sally quickly put her arms around him and held him close in a hug, saying, " Here, " feeling terrible about what she said to the point of deciding it was worth the risk to comfort him.

" You're right… I need help… " Miles whimpered miserably, returning the hug in an instant, being reminded of how Alicia would comfort him. Sally had never expected him to react that way, let alone outright admit she was right so easily, and she wondered if she had hit an insecurity in him that she wasn't aware of. She also didn't expect him to return the hug so quickly, without even so much as stiffening in surprise and needing to adjust to it. It was as if he implicitly trusted her.

After a minute of crying into her shoulder, Miles took a shaky breath, and explained in a depressed but calm tone, " You're right. Something is wrong with me. But I wasn't born like this! I just… I'm so sick of feeling like this every waking day, remembering how heartless people are… constantly being reminded of things used to be, how I felt when I was alone, and despised, and unwanted… No matter how much I try to focus on the present, I can't move on… It's not something I can just get over… It's already obvious that I've been deeply affected by what people put me through in the past, even several years after it's happened, but… "

Feeling terrible for him, Sally said quietly, " Why didn't you tell us it was that bad? " not sure how to respond without offending him. She had a good idea of why Antoine didn't; he wanted to respect the privacy of someone already ashamed of himself to begin with.

Miles sadly explained, " Because I didn't want to be seen as a liability. I don't want people to think of me as fragile and overly sensitive, I don't want them to walk on eggshells around me like I'm weak! I don't want to be mainly thought of as, ' the kid with PTSD, ' as, ' traumatized… ' I don't want to be seen as a burden. Sometimes the Freedom Fighters aren't comfortable with me around, they don't act the way they usually do just because I'm there. I-It creates the impression that they don't want me here, that they'd take _any_ excuse to get rid of me, so I thought that if I was more honest about, my troubles, I'd be thought of as psychologically _compromised_ and seen as less useful, less competent, and less trustworthy. I didn't want to look weak! I'm already on thin ice! I can't risk having it look like I'll be too much to handle, when already… Already I'm difficult… " With that last sentence, he remembered how guilty he felt about worrying Scourge from telling him about his past, and felt like a failure of a friend for doing nothing but making him unhappy.

After a brief reflective silence where he tried to hold back tears, his voice cracked at various points as he continued, " I can't take this anymore. It's already obvious enough that I have nothing to gain from trying to lie about it! Everyone's already aware of how, jumpy I can be… I already have the reputation of a ' coward. ' I might as well try to do something about it. If I ever want to have my suffering decrease, if I ever want to get better… I need help. It won't be easy for me… but it's the only solution I can think of. I met a kindhearted woman a few days ago in the clinic waiting room. She said that if I ever wanted someone to talk to, I could go to her office… I'd need someone to take me to it… every so often… "

Sally let go of Tails' evil counterpart dumbfounded, almost in a daze from what he was revealing. The child reluctantly took a business card out of his left boot to show it to her silently. It was a card for a children's therapist. Her heart sank when she saw it.

" Okay, if it's for the best… I'll have to inform the rest of the team about this, Miles. They need to know where I'm taking you and why, or they'll get worried and think you're up to something. I don't think Sonic, Antoine and Tails would, but… I'll have to tell them. " she said warily, knowing she was treading around a sensitive topic for him. She didn't want to make it sound like she was judging him and get him even more upset. Miles sighed and said melancholically, " If you must… I just hope they don't think… Never mind. "

After two months had passed, by which point it was the middle of December, Sally started to send him on missions without supervision increasingly more often, with them starting out as rare from a lack of trust and becoming almost as common as his missions with them. To make sure he would behave and follow the orders on the lone missions, he was made to wear a wrist-phone with a screen on it that would allow Nicole to contact him at any time. He was unhappy at how it looked slightly awkward wearing two different things on his left wrist, his spiked bracelet and below that the communicator. But eventually, he began to think of it as him being a more official team member to be trusted like that, and was grateful for getting to be trusted on lone missions at all, and that Sonic was nice enough to buy him a warm blue winter coat and earmuffs for when he had to go outside in the cold winter.

But while things had gotten better for him over the months, he still felt like he didn't belong. While the Freedom Fighters did have a lot of sympathy for him and appreciated the good things about him, he still wasn't entirely trusted due to him being an evil twin, and he could tell that if there was ever a moment where they were made to suspect that one of the Freedom Fighters was a traitor, they would all turn against him without any evidence. He had nightmares about that.

" What's wrong, Miles? " Nicole said, nervously going up to him when he was alone to check on him; with the group growing less suspicious and paranoid of him over time, he had finally gotten to the point where he was allowed to be alone in the base for more than just bathroom breaks, even if it was only for a small amount of time. He was sitting in a chair in front of the kitchen table, his head hung low. After a silence, he replied in a depressed tone with a bitter expression to cover it up, " I'm not wanted here… "

Miles unhappily complained to Nicole about how unwelcome he felt in the group, saying that, " No one can get over the fact that I was Tails' evil twin! Even Sonic, Tails, and Antoine are a bit uncomfortable about me at times, and they're some of the people who like me the most! Everyone treats me like an outsider, because I'm different from them… " " Even me? " she asked unhappily, wondering if she had done something wrong. " No, not you, you're a nice person, " Miles stated offhandedly, not realizing how much that meant to Nicole. " _He called me a person!_ " she thought, stunned and pleased with him. Miles continued without even looking at her,

" Antoine is like the brother I never had, and Sonic and Tails are very understanding with me, calling me their friend and reassuring me. But sometimes people act like I'm a ticking time bomb or something, like I can't be trusted not to betray them inexplicably the instant they look the other way, like I'm someone who shouldn't _exist,_ h-here… I mean, I broke the law a lot, big deal, my _only_ friends were criminals, it's not like I had a choice! I didn't always hate people! I didn't choose to have my eyes opened to the cruelty of the world. I used to be all naïve like them, and I learned my lesson early on! They never had to worry about being treated like they're different and wrong and not worth anything. They're ' normal. ' So of course they like people. Society is decent to _them_. " Nicole looked unhappy. His speech hit close to home for her; she knew very well what it was like to be treated like she was different from everyone else, even if for a different reason.

" So I used to lash out at the world when I was little, that was the past! That doesn't mean I shouldn't be here. It doesn't mean I won't be loyal and trustworthy and useful to you guys! What else am I supposed to do?! I can't, it, just… I don't know why I bother even wasting my breath. I'm just a criminal to you, right? Just whining and ranting, right? Sticking out like a sore thumb in a group of ' heroes, ' they look at me like a fre... Forget it… " Miles ranted, with his voice cracking by the final sentence. Realizing that tears were welling up in his eyes, he quickly left his chair and impulsively ran into the nearest room, ignoring Nicole as she called out, " Miles! " and ran after him.

Reassuring him as he laid in the living room couch covering himself with the blankets, she sat beside him and started comfortingly stroking his head as she said, " I know how it feels to be different from everyone else, and, to not be accepted. I don't think you're wrong, I understand what it's like to feel like, well, a… " Miles sighed, and replied sadly,

" You're not that, Nicole. You're special! I bet your parents, I mean I guess ' creators, ' I bet you're their pride and joy, the best thing they ever created in life, because your intelligence and competence surpassed their expectations. You are exactly what they wanted you to be, an intelligent artificial, uh, intelligence. But my parents didn't want me to be anything like this. I could've been born normal. I at least had a chance. I'm a mutation of a normal being, a-an aberration of what should be, and I've been treated like the scum of the earth for it… and not only that, but I'm an alternate universe criminal version of someone that was a hero their whole life. Guess what that makes me? " as tears ran down his face and humiliated him because of it. Feeling sorry for him, Nicole embraced him in a hug, having appreciated the compliments from him, and told him, " Don't talk about yourself that way. We're both special… "

Miles was stunned at receiving such compassion, and so quickly after everything he had done as her enemy in the past, and said, " I-I'm sorry, Nicole, I, I know you're right. I, it was sweet of you to try to relate to me. Even if you didn't suffer in nearly the same way that I have, but it's not a contest, it's just… All that matters is that you actually care. Thank you. "

He smiled sweetly at her as he got up off the couch with her, slightly forcing it because he was still unhappy, and admitted to her, " You know, Nikki, out of all of the Freedom Fighters, you're my favorite. " Amused at being called a nickname as a term of endearment, Nicole asked cheerfully with a cocked eyebrow, " I am? Why? " and Miles answered with a shy smile,

" Well, you're the one who's the nicest to me, and the most relatable to me. We can go on long conversations for hours about just about anything! And part of it is because, well, we click. We're kindred spirits! Not only because you're special, but also because of your intelligence. It's nice to have someone around that I can have intelligent conversations with, and share my interests with, and, just be open with myself around! With everyone else, there's more pressure to stay quiet so I won't be disapproved of or judged as weak, or, hated… Even with Sonic, I-I-I respect him so much that I don't wanna say the wrong thing or make a bad impression, because he's such an important figure in my life… You're a lot more curious without being too judging. I can just talk to you about who I am, or what I am, and… you're the most amazing girl I've ever known. "

Nicole giggled, finding him sweet as she started blushing from his slightly awkward speech, and she said with her arm around him, " And I confide in you, too. You're a good friend, Miles. In fact, you're my closest friend next to Sally! " She whispered, " Don't tell anyone, " gave him a quick kiss on the forehead that left Miles blushing, and said cheerfully, " If you ever need someone to make you feel better, come to me. " With that, she ruffled his hair and left the room, with him staring at her as she left looking sad and conflicted, still not taking it for granted that he was in her good favor.

" I'm getting kind of hungry, " Tails commented, walking with Miles through the park in the suburbs of Emerald Town. " You are? " Miles replied, looking surprised. " Yeah, but I don't have any money with me. And I left Sonic's card at home, " Tails said unhappily as Miles had his hand on his chin in thought, coming up with a plan.

Noticing the owner of a hot dog stand nearby that was taking advantage of the unusually warm weather in the middle of the winter, Miles proceeded to charge up two golden electricity spheres in his hands as he glared at the hot dog stand owner with his head lowered threateningly and his palms sparking, growling with a menacing look on his face as the sky darkened from being covered by dark clouds. Terrified as the child looked almost demonic in front of him, the hot dog stand owner trembled and said, " What do you want from me?! " Miles ordered, " A hot dog with chili on it! Free of charge for my friend here! " and pointed back at Tails, who was watching with a nervous look on his face.

The hot dog stand owner looked at Tails still afraid, wondering why he was spending time as a friend with someone as evil as that, and Tails had a sheepish look on his face as he prepared a free chili dog for him under Miles' threat. On the one hand, he didn't think it was right what Miles was doing, making it very clear that he still hated humanity and hadn't been tamed from his old ways, having no problem with victimizing random civilians. But on the other hand, Tails was worried about offending him by telling him off for what was, technically, an act born of compassion and generosity for someone he cared about, even if it did involve him breaking the law in the process. Not wanting to make him uncomfortable, Tails stayed silent looking at the hot dog stand owner apologetically as Miles said bitterly with his arms crossed, " Considering all of his heroic deeds, it's ungrateful of you to not do this for him unprompted. If anyone has earned a free meal every so often, it is him. Consider yourself lucky that threatening you is all I planned to do. "

The hot dog stand owner finally handed Tails the chili dog, with a nervous expression, and Tails said with a sheepish smile, " Aw, thanks, Miles, that's, uh, a _nice thought!_ You didn't have to do that for me! " Then he said awkwardly in a quieter voice, thankful that no one but him and the hot dog stand owner had witnessed his behavior,

" But, uh, I don't really want you to make a habit out of breaking the law. You're a Freedom Fighter now. I get why it'd take a while to adjust to being completely law-abiding. You're not in trouble, I won't tell anyone. Just try not to do it too often, alright? I don't want people to have a hard time accepting you as one of the heroes. Got it, pal? " with a nervous smile at the end.

Feeling very self-conscious from realizing he looked bad in front of him, Miles looked away awkwardly with an annoyed expression, and muttered unhappily, " Got it, " feeling unappreciated. " _Why'd I bother? I should've known he'd complain._ " he thought bitterly.

Trying to make him feel better, Tails gave him an affectionate shoulder rub to make him smile and reassured him, " You were just trying to be a good friend, Miles. It was _nice_ of you, in your own unique way. Just, keep in mind that there's OTHER ways of being a good friend to me, _without_ intimidating innocent people. "

While he looked at him nervously at the end, he went back to smiling at him and giggled afterwards, and Miles smiled a little because of it, still feeling self-conscious, but relieved that he at least appreciated what he did for him. Miles soon became distracted as he thought about how much his feelings towards his old enemy had changed, and he was so absorbed in thought afterwards that he didn't hear Tails whisper to the hot dog salesman, " I'll pay you for it later, " before they walked away.

It took until a few days before Christmas for Miles to reveal to Tails during a mission alone with him the high possibility that he would stay with his side continuing to repay him for the rest of their lives, and that he kept that secret because he didn't think the others would react to it very well. He believed that they would freak out and refuse him if they realized he was planning to join them permanently and that being a temporary ally would be easier for them to swallow, and that he still needed a little more time for them to go from being used to him, to outright wanting to have him stay, and only then would he ask to stay for good, when he knew that the reaction would be universally positive.

During a days-long mission alone with Tails, Miles was acting as a Stealth Mentor, subtly trying to get Tails to realize his potential as an air kitsune without making him feel pressured or insecure; telling him everything right away could cause objections from Tails, who might worry that Miles was trying to get him to stop focusing mostly on his engineering. He spent the next few days traveling with Tails subtly trying to get him to realize that he could sense the wind, asking him the wind direction and whether it was windy when he hadn't gone outside yet to reveal to him how good he was at " guessing " the answer correctly, and even getting him to predict all the gusts of wind as a " game, " to soothe him to sleep during a stormy night in their inflatable tent.

During that time, he was dedicated to protecting him from any harm, both to prevent himself from getting in trouble for it and out of a brotherly/paternal instinct to keep his more innocent and " weaker " twin safe from harm, and Tails was conflicted between finding his efforts to take care of him overprotective and coddling, and appreciating his clear show of empathy for it, quickly settling on the latter from his idealism.

Spotting Eggman's newly built tower on the end of the mission, Miles started running with Tails towards it, and showed Tails through example that he could " boost " by blasting wind out of his palms when they're behind him while his tails are spinning behind him. Upon seeing Tails use the same ability without even being told to do so, he was delighted, and exclaimed happily, " Great job, you did it! You catch on quick, " and Tails was stunned at seeing the genuine smile on his evil twin's face, being once again reminded of how sympathetic he could look.

" Thanks! That's so nice of you. You really _have_ changed for the better. " A little bashful and uncomfortable, Miles admitted immediately, " I wouldn't say that I've changed. It'd be more accurate to say I've grown fond of you. D-Don't tell anyone I just said that. " Tails gave him a confused smile, and chose to remain silent to humor him, wishing that he wasn't awkward about softening up.

Miles then proceeded to explain to him how to slow down while using that ability so he wouldn't crash into walls or have to stop too suddenly. He taught him to think about the wind blasting out of his palms at a progressively smaller amount of force. He had never intended to try to teach him how to send wind out of his palms so early, and intended to take it very slow with him to avoid overwhelming him with his capabilities and making him panic over them. As a result, he kept things simple and easy, summarizing to him that anything he did with the wind was something Tails was also capable of, including flying on top of a tornado and making it a lot more windy. Miles chose not to tell Tails that his mere presence made the area he was in more windy, worried that he would panic and be upset with himself for something he couldn't even help. After all, Miles had a hard enough time in life feeling guilty for causing the spike in thunderstorms that Tails was dealing with so much. He didn't want to pass on a similar feeling to him.

When they returned to home base with the mission accomplished, Tails excitedly revealed to his friends what Miles had taught him, saying stuff like, " It was great! He taught me that I can do this! " and sending a gust of wind out of his palms, before explaining, " Turns out I can control the wind! This'll make dealing with Eggman's robots a snap! I can even use this power as a boost! Cool, huh? "

There was a worrying silence, as Tails' friends were a mixture of suspicious and concerned that Miles was teaching him things - with Sally asking with her arms crossed, " Did he teach you _other_ things? " - to genuinely proud of him and excited for his newfound power, with Sonic being the biggest example of that. He exclaimed happily, " Awesome! I'm so proud of you! You gotta show me what my little brother can do! Come on! " With that, Sonic left the room with Tails, leaving Sally alone with Miles.

When Sally approached him about his intentions, she asked him with a mixture of curiosity and wariness, " It's good that you did that, but, why? Why'd you do that for him? " She thought it was unusual of him to teach Tails abilities that he'd be able to use against him if he ever went back to being his enemy, and was confused because of it.

Miles calmly explained, " I felt it was right for Tails to learn about his powers as a two-tailed fox. He should know who he is, " and added that he appreciated Tails because " it's nice to have another kitsune around, " with a small sweet smile as he looked away.

Sally, agreeing with his reasoning, compared it to Shadow wanting to find out what he was while having amnesia, with Miles saying that it was a good part of growing up to become more understanding of one's own capabilities and what exactly they were. Still, the Freedom Fighters wondered why Miles was teaching Tails to become more powerful when it would be to his detriment if they became enemies again, and occasionally worried if he intended to take advantage of him.

Soon after that, a lab accident involving chemicals ended up making Tails temporarily blind for a week. This forced him to spend the week blindfolded, listening to science documentaries on TV to pass the time as he wished that he was able to help his friends. It was a devastating setback, but Miles was able to see the good in it.

While volunteering to protect him for the entirety of the week, he started subtly trying to teach Tails that " you can rely on your other senses, " which included his ability to sense the wind. One of the most important things he did with him to accomplish that goal, was that he started to play catch with him in the castle garden using a small softball he found in the city. Naturally, Tails objected to it at first, saying, " That's ridiculous, I can't see! How am I supposed to catch the ball? " Miles responded with, " You will, trust me. I have complete faith in you. "

Baffled, Tails asked, " How?! " still not entirely used to the idea that his evil twin respected him that much. " Look, when something moves through the air, it displaces the air in the process. And that creates wind in the area from the sheer force of it moving through the air. Just try, alright? It'll be a fun experiment! " Miles replied, smiling at the end. For the first time in months, Tails wondered if his evil twin was up to something. But he knew from experience that being honest about suspicion of him would only hurt his feelings again, so he sighed and said, " Alright, I'll humor you. Just don't throw it too hard. " Miles said happily, " Great! Okay, here's the first catch. " Tails panicked at trying to catch something he couldn't even see, but to his complete shock and confusion, he managed to do it, complete with running a little to the left in order to reach its destination.

At first, he wondered if him catching the ball was just a lucky coincidence, but as the game of catch progressed through the day, and kept being revisited that week, he started to wonder if Miles was onto something. Eventually, Miles' training him to rely on his wind sense paid off, causing him to be more aware of his surroundings as he was able to detect motion in the room he was in from the air it displaced alone.

By the time he was able to see again, Tails had kept that sense, and Miles, full of excitement and respect for his potential, told him all about how useful it would be for an air kitsune like him. He explained just how integral to his powers it was having the ability to sense electricity by default, and Tails was left stunned and conflicted. He wasn't being discouraged from being an engineer first and foremost, as Miles was still telling him that he was better off staying in the lab doing what he was most talented at, but knowing that he could control the wind still changed the way he looked at himself a little. He started practicing it in secret when he was bored, and eventually, he got precise enough that he was able to do things like summon a small gust of wind that would bend around to carry a pen to him from the other side of the room. He could bring the smallest of tools to his side just by using his newfound power, and he couldn't be more proud of that.

Deep in thought from memories of his past returning, Miles accidentally spilled a drink on the kitchen table in front of Amy and Antoine, and gasped in a panic before he rushed to start cleaning it up with a washcloth wet by the kitchen sink's tap, saying in a hurry, " Sorry, I'm sorry! " just before Amy was about to clean it herself. They both were dumbfounded at how jumpy and afraid Miles was of getting in serious trouble with them for even something as minor as that. They worried that they were intimidating him with their resentment, that they were controlling him with fear and intimidation. Was that really who they wanted to be?

" I-It was an accident! I wasn't, I was distracted, I… " Miles stammered almost hysterically, before Amy reassured him, " Relax, it's fine! We know you didn't mean to, we're not gonna yell at you. Come on, I'll help, " placing her hands on his shoulders to help calm him down. Miles stared at her in a mixture of confusion and leftover anxiety as she removed cleaning spray from a cabinet below the kitchen sink and helped him clean the stain properly. After she did that, she gave him a hug. " Huh? " was his only response, and it was in a sad and whispered voice of complete confusion, returning the hug absent-mindedly out of loneliness.

" I-I'm sorry, I just… " Miles replied nervously as he slowly reluctantly let go of her. His eyes darted around a little and he scratched the back of his neck while saying with a bashful smile, " T-That's okay, I… I'm about ready to go home for the day anyways. Thank you. " Amy stared at him sadly as he left the Freedom Fighters HQ with Sonic in a hurry, who had cheerfully walked into the room oblivious to what had just happened only to end up quickly taking him home with him reassuringly.

As Miles spent his time assisting the Freedom Fighters, he ended up being introduced as an ally to friends of Sonic outside of the team, like the Chaotix and Blaze. The meetings were usually uncomfortable for him from either not being used to being called a hero, or from still being treated with suspicion. The one he really took a liking to was Cream, who Nicole brought him to. The little girl asked him with her hands behind her back, " So, um, wanna have a tea party with me? " being a bit shy about doing so from knowing his previous reputation. To Nicole's amusement, Miles smiled in excitement and said, " Tea? Sure! I love tea. "

Cream couldn't help but smile at that enthusiasm, and she led him into her room holding his arm, and he sat down at the table while Cream poured him tea with the tea cup, tea that he smiled in relaxation upon sipping. It was clear just looking at it that it was full of milk and sugar, exactly the way he liked it. " So when you said party, you didn't mean an actual one, right? With loud music and dancing and, large crowds? " To his relief, Cream shook her head and said, " No, it's pretty calm and quiet. You just sit down at the table and enjoy the tea. "

Cream was so happy with him for redeeming himself that she was nice to him from the very beginning, and tried to get him to open up to her, wanting to know why he could've been so willing to commit crime with the Suppression Squad – to the point of believing his victims deserved it – and yet still had enough good in him to become a Freedom Fighter. She wanted to know what caused him to be so evil and bitter, when the good still in him proved that he wasn't always that way. Miles was uneasy about giving her the answers she wanted; he didn't want to embarrass himself by getting too worked up in front of her or tell her too much, and he worried that being told about his past would scare her, and risk getting him in trouble. After some hesitation, Miles sadly explained to Cream, " I was bullied in the past, for having two tails… Life was a struggle, " not telling her the full story to avoid upsetting her.

Eventually, Vanilla walked into the room to check on Cream, and in the middle of a long casual conversation with her about the previous mission he had been on, Miles nonchalantly said the word, " hell. " " Watch your language! " Vanilla scolded, startling Miles into jumping and gasping turning to face her with a scared expression. In an instant, he had gone from being in a casual and friendly environment to once again being judged and looked down upon, being stared at disapprovingly by an adult that he didn't trust for something that wasn't much of a flaw in him to begin with. Feeling powerless, Miles started trembling and apologized with his ears drooping looking sad, " I-I'm sorry! It just, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to say that here! I just, please don't hate me! "

His final sentence shook Vanilla out of her disapproving glare from the sheer impact of it, and her expression changed to one of concern as she noticed that Miles was about to break down crying because of her. He was blinking erratically and frequently to hold back the tears, looking down at the table and away from everyone else to try to hide how he was feeling as eventually, tears started to run down his face at last.

" It's okay! " Vanilla exclaimed, and rushed to his side to embrace him in a hug, apologizing, " I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Calm down, you're safe here… I didn't mean to yell at you, " with him returning the hug and savoring the affection with his eyes closed. Cream watched the scene in front of her concerned just like her mother, and wished that there was something she could do to help. " _I never would've imagined he was so sensitive…_ " she thought.

Humiliated, Miles tried his best to speak without his voice breaking feeling self-conscious enough as it was, as he explained sadly, " I've been yelled at every day for the first four years of my life, I should be used to it by now! But instead, it just takes me back to it… Normally I can handle being judged, I put up with that all the time, but it was the fact that you caught me so off guard, when I was relaxing and enjoying myself, and then all of a sudden… "

Cream asked nervously, " Was she reminding you of one of your old bullies? " There was an awkward silence before Miles admitted, " Yeah, no offense. Now I know that you're nothing like them. My point is, I'm sorry I say those words so often, they're just a normal part of my vocabulary now. My only friends for most of my life had no problem with swearing, particularly Scourge, who essentially raised me for the first year we knew each other, so of course he was going to be a big influence! He taught me a lot of words that everyone else already knew, but I was ignorant of because of a limited exposure to the world. And he was the only person who bothered to have full-on casual conversations with me on a daily basis, so I couldn't help starting to talk like him. It's all Scourge's fault! " Vanilla stroked the back of his head in sympathy, and reluctantly ended the hug, feeling like she knew him a lot better than she did before.

" So it was just him? " she inquired, and Miles reluctantly admitted, " And Buns, and Boomer, they both cursed when they were annoyed at something. Patch only swears in French, and French is his thing, I'd be looked at weird if I tried speaking it without being French myself. " Vanilla, trying to lighten the mood as Miles and Cream finished up their tea, said, " You don't need to be French to be allowed to speak the language. "

Miles awkwardly said, " You do for using it unnecessarily when not talking to anyone else. That was always Patch's thing, French, so I didn't think I could be too open about being interested in it. I'd always look up the words he used in a French-English dictionary in private. In fact, uh, I ended up reading the whole thing a few times. But I-I-I don't think I'm good at it, myself, I just recognize a lot of words. Structuring a whole sentence with its, um, complex grammar is something I don't have much experience with doing verbally on the spot. The amounts of different endings to words in it is just staggering, and it's not even always consistent, " as the two of them listened interested, and encouraged him about it afterwards.

The two of them were very kind to him, with Vanilla acting as a mother figure to him like she did with all children. Liking how Vanilla also appreciated tea and treated him in a motherly way that he had never known before, Miles began to view her as a sort of mother figure, although he didn't know it at the time.

Seeing Tails' parents for the first time made Miles upset, sad and confused, as he glanced over at them before gasping and looking at them again in shock, staring at them anxiously with a feeling of loneliness and separation anxiety as he wondered who exactly they were to make him feel that way. " W-Who are they? " he asked Tails sadly with his eyebrows lowered, sitting beside him on Vanilla's couch as everyone opened their Christmas presents. " They're my mom and dad… What's wrong? " Tails answered sadly, noticing how unhappy he was. " I… don't trust them, " Miles said sadly, causing them to look concerned about him.

Worried, and feeling especially sorry for him for reminding him of her own son, Tails' mother said to him, " Did you not have a good relationship with your parents? " with a compassionate look. Miles sighed and looked away in shame, before saying bitterly, " T-They abandoned me for being a _mutant…_ " He could barely even talk about it without getting choked up, and had to force himself to say the final word, embarrassed at making himself look so pathetic.

" At least that's what the workers at the orphanage told me. They thought I was a disgrace to the family, and left me on the island so that no one could trace me back to them! " Miles exclaimed unhappily, with tears running down his face, and this caused all of the Freedom Fighters to turn to look at him and add to his humiliation. He buried his face in his hands in shame, drying it as fast as he could, unable to see their concerned expressions as he only focused on his shame.

Tails' parents looked shocked at how heartless his parents were, and after a brief silence, Rosemary reassured him, " We're not like them, Miles. We promise! We got separated from him because of other people, like Robotnik. If we had the choice, we would've kept him, and we would've kept you! " After another, slightly intimidating silence, she carefully placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, " Want a hug? "

Miles looked around the living room, noticing at last how sympathetic everyone from Antoine and Amy to Rotor looked, reassuring him silently that he wouldn't be disapproved of for jumping at the opportunity to finally have a mother of his own. Then he looked back at Tails' mother, and noticed fear and hesitation in her eyes, no doubt from understanding that he was, technically, her son's evil twin, and that Antoine's evil twin had done something rather rephrensible to his father. He didn't want her to be afraid of him, feeling the burden of guilt weighing down on him once again; he had felt that more and more from being around the Freedom Fighters, looking back on all of his crimes from a new perspective as he couldn't help thinking of how they'd disapprove of him for it. He had learned to hate that feeling of guilt, and how he wasn't able to repress it as well anymore.

Finally, he sighed and said with a nervous smile, " Of course, " and hugged Tails' mother immediately, getting not only a hug from her in return, but a reassuring caress on the head as well. Amy commented with a smile, " Aw! " finding it sweet, as Miles whispered too quietly for anyone but Tails' mother to hear, " I-I hope I'll see you more often, um… Mom? " Rosemary raised her eyebrows at first, only to whisper with a smile, " Of course you will, " accepting his request to his relief.

Seeing for himself how he didn't even want Tails' parents to be afraid of him, let alone kill them, everyone in the Freedom Fighters who had any doubts about him finally let go of their suspicion against him and smiled, as they realized that he truly had changed after all. When the hug ended, Sally went up to him with a smile, holding eggnog in a glass in her hand, and said cheerfully, " You can stay with us helping us out for as long as you want, Miles. No more suspicion and mistrust, I promise. We'll make it our New Year's Resolution! "

Full of hope in spite of the lingering fear and unease, Miles smiled warmly at her and asked, " May I… um… continue working for you, for the rest of my life? " He looked away from her nervously flinching, expecting the worst.

" Of course you can! You've been an asset to our team, and you've never really caused us any trouble. So, why not? Why end a good thing? If you want to stay with us and keep being friends, why would we say no? I officially declare you, one of the Freedom Fighters! " Sally said happily, and everyone around Miles felt the urge to start applauding at that, lightheartedly trying to make it feel more official.

Sonic handed him a Christmas gift with a grin, happy that he was accepted into the group at last. " Here you go, buddy. This is for you, " he said, and after some brief hesitation, Miles tore open the red and green giftwrap paper until he gasped happily at seeing exactly what he wanted inside of it; a violin. " It's beautiful… " he said blissfully, and looked up at him saying, " Thank you! I'll play it every day! I missed having one of these so much… " as everyone smiled at him.

After that, Tails cheerfully handed him another gift, saying, " And here! I think you'll really like this! " Miles unwrapped the giftwrap paper with some difficulty, and revealed that contained in it was a CD-player with several CDs from various rock bands, with song lists that looked very appealing to him. " Thanks! How'd you know I liked these? " Miles thanked him, and Tails cheerfully joked around, " Hey, I'm you from another dimension, of course I'd be able to figure it out, " and chuckled.

When Miles finally got used to being accepted as one of the Freedom Fighters, he started to be more consistently happy and relaxed, sincerely smiling and laughing more frequently rather than being too shy and afraid to enjoy himself. After a while, he seemed like a completely different person from the vengeful and condescending person he used to present himself as, only returning to that persona to intimidate his enemies. For the most part, just like Tails, he was being cheerful rather than bitter and depressed, with Nicole being the best at putting him in a good mood. At last, he began to slowly let go of his hatred of humanity, at the very least making Mobians an exception to the rule; it was hard to continue hating them as much as Moebians when they never treated him differently for being a mutant. Instead, it was for the evil deeds he had done in the past, which was more justified in comparison in spite of him not having much of a choice in the matter. While his past would always continue to haunt him and he would always be cynical of people for their discriminatory ways, he no longer hated being a hero for them, as long as he had a place where he felt like he belonged.

Months later, when it was the first week of spring, Miles was using a magically created tornado to fly him through an open meadow with a forest overlooking it. He was on the way to the destination of his next lone mission, when he stopped dead in his tracks from seeing a familiar face running up to him in a green blur. He gasped with his pupils shrunken in fear, unable to believe what he was seeing. " _Sonic?! I mean, Scourge?!... That can't be him! Am I hallucinating again? This can't be happening!_ "

Scourge stopped in front of him at last, but rather than being angry with him like he had feared, he had that serious look on his face that he always had when he had been worrying about his well-being. " Hey! Bro! I've been looking everywhere for you! I thought you had… " Scourge said to him in a hurried panic, only to look wide-eyed and shocked at getting a closer look at him. " What's with that badge? And that gadget on your wrist? And, why'd your shirt turn blue? " Scourge asked him bewildered, briefly touching the Acorn badge pinned to his blue turtleneck with a black-edged square design on the center.

After trembling for a while in anxiety, Miles shouted, " You! " and flew into a rage, electrocuting Scourge with golden electricity at the twitch of his wrists. Scourge screamed as he was zapped and kept still by the burst of electrical energy surrounding him, with Miles keeping him slightly above the ground from a wind current from below as he glared at him demonically with anxiety-filled eyes. After a couple seconds of keeping him helpless, it finally dawned on Miles what he was doing to him, and with a quick tossing motion from his arms, he threw him to the ground in front of him re-absorbing the electricity at the first thought that he might injure the first person who ever loved him. His look of rage briefly faltered as a result, but he forced it back on him as soon as he could and shouted, " Don't you dare! " acting even more intimidating to hide his moment of weakness. Fortunately for him, Scourge had his eyes closed in a grimace the entire time and never saw the remorseful look on his face that revealed what he was hiding beneath the mask.

Scourge laid on the ground on his back for a moment before forcing himself to sit up in a daze, saying quietly, " Wha… What are you talking about? " in a tone of both fear and exasperation. A couple seconds later, he managed to stand himself back up, only to be zapped again while held still with the twitch of Miles' wrists, screaming at the pain and how he was rendered unable to move.

" Don't even think about taking it all away from me! " Miles shouted passionately, with a twisted twitching of his eye. He moved his right arm to the right and turned to the right in one swift motion to generate a blast of wind against Scourge, which slammed him against the trunk of a tree pinning him to it with roaring wind. " I'm the most powerful being in the world! So don't even think about getting into a fight with me! You can't even run until I let you! " Miles shouted triumphantly, although his moment of pride was very short-lived, as his anger was soon replaced with guilt and fear once again, and he returned to looking concerned about his older brother, knowing how much he'd regret hurting the person he owed his life to. He felt pathetic about being so conflicted, when from his perspective he should've felt good about tormenting Sonic's evil twin on sheer principle.

Scourge rubbed the side of his head sitting in front of the tree in a daze, before… smiling at him. " Man… You've gotten stronger! I told ya that practicing would pay off! " he said with a pleased smile, proud of him, his words directly reminding him of how impressed he was when he threw lightning in front of him for the first time. Even after Miles betrayed him, he still couldn't help but be proud of his little brother for realizing his true potential.

The sheer sight of Scourge acting like his caring older brother again in the face of hate-filled mistreatment destroyed what little rage he had left and replaced it with remorse. " What?... You're being… " Miles said quietly with an expression full of guilt and uncertainty. " _Nice, after everything I did?_ " he thought, finishing his sentence where he couldn't hear it. With that, he looked regretful, and his lack of a desire to keep fighting stopped the wind keeping Scourge against the tree, allowing him to stand himself up, walk up to him and talk to him casually.

Scourge said nostalgically with a smile, " Aw, that's better. That's the Miles I know! I'll admit it, I missed ya, little bro. " With relief as well as worry in his tone, he continued with a smile that was more nervous, " Glad I found ya so fast. The minute I got back home with Fiona and saw you weren't there, I've been searching like crazy for you! So while I told my soldiers and the Destructix to go looking for you in Moebius, I decided to go see if you went here to try and beg Sonic for forgiveness. And you did! Ah, you're so predictable. You know, I oughta give ya what for, running away like that, but honestly, I'm just glad you're still alive. Knowing you… " Scourge looked serious in concern again, and decided against finishing that thought, knowing that it was best left unsaid. After all, Miles already knew what he was going to say; directly confronting him with it would only upset him even more.

" You... What are you doing? I can't be seen with you! What if people jump to conclusions?! " Miles said anxiously about his friendly way of speaking to him, being quiet and resentful at first only to return to shouting at him trembling uncontrollably by the middle of it, terrified of being accused of being a traitor just from being seen with him. The fact that a similar thing already happened with Fiona didn't help. Scourge deadpanned, " Miles, there's no one here. I see you're just paranoid as eve-"

" Shut up! Don't try to act like you're your old self again! J-Just to go right back to your old ways 'cause you think you're too good for me! You never cared about me! You lying bastard! All you care about is yourself! " Miles shouted with his fists clenched at his sides, snapping at last. Scourge replied in frustrated confusion, " What?! What the hell kind of thoughts did those traitors put in your head?! What are you talking about, I never cared?! I raised you myself! "

" For a year! And then you just ditched me to chase after girls! Face it, Scourge, you didn't raise me, the Suppression Squad did! You cared so much about me that the minute you became a teenager, you abandoned me just like my parents! You didn't care about raising me anymore! Just wanted to keep a friendship with a kid from ruining your ' street cred, ' as if that was even possible! All you ever did after that was boss me around and treat me condescendingly for being a kid, when you promised me that you'd never treat me differently for what I can't help, but you're just like everyone else! " Miles ranted furiously, letting out years of frustration that he had kept all bottled up. He shouted,

" All this ' I still care about you and miss you ' talk, all of it's empty words! Even if you are sincere, it won't change how you act and you'll probably change your mind! You expect me to come back to you after years of neglect?! You're just like your parents! " Scourge gasped, looking shocked and upset at the accusation. Had he really made the same mistake that they did?

Knowing full well what that meant to him, Miles continued to rant passionately, " There, I said it! You're never there! You just showed up occasionally to remind me that you existed and didn't care about me anymore! Do you have any idea how hard it was getting the Freedom Fighters to trust me? Those were the most miserable months of my life! I'd rather DIE than have to go through that again! Even if I go insane and I do come back to you, how do I know you won't just go back to ignoring me so your precious Destructix won't judge you for treating me right?! If I leave now, I'll never be able to come back! You think I'm going to risk losing my best friends just to give you another chance to screw things up?! Forget it! You had your chance! And you blew it! I'm never going back to being alone! They love me, Sonic, and you don't! ''

There was a silence, as Scourge looked stunned and devastated. The fact that Miles had instinctively called him by the name he called him for most of his life only made it all the more clear how upset he was. Finally, he said, '' That's not true!... Damn it… Was that what this was all about?... Man, I wish you told me that earlier. We could've fixed things years ago! I would've spent more time around you if I knew you still wanted that! I thought you just ' outgrew ' me, or that those traitors turned you against me! I thought with the Suppression Squad around, you'd have so many friends that you wouldn't need me anymore! ''

Trying to resist the urge to forgive him right away from the sheer impact of him reacting like that, Miles exclaimed with tears welling up in his eyes, '' Why would you ever think that?!... And you thought you knew me! You insensitive jerk! Don't you dare try to blame it all on me! You're the one who abandoned me when you knew I had been put through that before! You used to do everything right, but you changed! And I've already gotten that back! With Sonic! With the Freedom Fighters! And they make me happier than I have ever been! I don't need you! I don't need you anymore! I never wanna see you again! "

There was another silence between them as Miles blinked rapidly holding back the tears and Scourge looked upset and let it all sink in. Finally, the silence was broken when he sighed heavily. " I'm sorry… " he apologized reluctantly with his head hung low. The sheer impact of it made Miles' anger fade away completely and caused him to listen. " You're right. I screwed up. I never had a friend before, and I didn't know what I was doing… " Scourge admitted, showing humility to him for the first time in several years. After awkwardly scratching the back of his neck, he continued,

" Look, all I ever wanted was for you to be happy. W-When we first met, you were so depressed, you had been through hell… traumatized far more than you were willing to admit. How do you think that was like for a ten-year-old kid? Meeting somebody like that? I never knew anyone like that before, I never had a friend like you, and I always figured I'd end up screwing up, 'cause it's not an easy friend to keep, especially for someone impatient like me. But that's not your fault! It's those bastards back home for making you who you are!... "

" Sonic… I-I mean, Scourge… You haven't apologized to me in years! Especially not for… " Miles replied quietly looking stunned. By the end of it, he squeezed his eyes shut and looked annoyed as he tried to hold back the tears welling up in his eyes. Unfortunately, a single tear managed to escape, and rolled down his face as he said sadly, " Thank you… "

" Hey, that wasn't exactly easy for me… That's what you do to me, I guess. You're my soft side. You and Fiona, " Scourge said lightheartedly with a chuckle, trying to lighten up the mood while Miles wiped away tears from his eyes. Finally, Miles admitted with his head hung low, " I owe you an apology as well, for… obvious reasons. I… wasn't thinking very far ahead when I did it, and I got the exact opposite of what I wanted! Every time I saw you I was reminded of how things had changed between us, but instead of talking it over with you, I lashed out… I didn't want to look clingy and needy, I wanted to look like I had become stronger, that I had gotten over it… "

Scourge sighed sadly, appreciating the long-overdue apology for the betrayal while still pitying him, and said lightheartedly, " Hey, news flash, kiddo, that's kind of common knowledge back home. No sense hiding an open secret… " Miles sighed with shame, and whispered, " I know… "

Scourge continued with a smile as sincere and friendly as Sonic's, " My point is, if being a hero is what gets you truly happy, finally, then that's what I want for you. After all, traitor or not, you're still my brother, and my brother deserves better than what he got! "

Miles looked at him stunned for a couple seconds, taken aback by everything he said. One word in particular had him take pause. " I-I'm not a hero, shut up, " he muttered resentfully as he looked away in embarrassment. " What'dya call palling around with Sonic then? What happened to getting back at the people who bullied you? You don't even seem to care about that anymore! So much for getting revenge… " Scourge replied, starting out with a forced lighthearted tone and going back to his infamous evil self by the end.

" I… That doesn't mean anything! I got older and wiser and accepted that getting revenge was pointless! I've been giving those discriminatory bastards what they deserve for years and it's never made me feel better for longer than a minute! They still hate me for something I can't help, so what's the point of it all?! It only got me to hate myself more! " Miles exclaimed defensively, in denial right from the start. By the final sentence, he looked depressed and embarrassed, with the sympathetic reaction of Scourge only making him feel worse, and he stammered before continuing resentfully,

" I, uh, what I mean is, I'm sick of wasting my time. Wasting my life! All I wanted was for them to at least respect me, and they don't! You've heard what the people of our world say about me, how weak and, hideous and, deranged they think I am! Even getting them to fear me didn't change the core problem. At least in this dimension, I never hear anyone call me a mutant! All they cared about was my past taking revenge on humanity, and now they don't anymore because I'm making up for it! Why would I go back to wasting my time with you?! My only goal in life was to get acceptance and respect, and that's something I can only have over here! Your hateful heartless world can burn for all I care, because I'm done with it! I'm done wasting my life breaking the law with you! "

After briefly smiling at Miles in an impressed smirk at how much braver he seemed to have gotten – standing up to him so passionately and for so long that even he was proud of him for it – Scourge scoffed lightheartedly with a wave of his hand and said jokingly, " See?! You suddenly think you're too good for breaking the law. Ha! Who are you?! Man, have they brainwashed you or what? You've changed. "

Miles stared at him speechless from his reaction, looking wide-eyed and lost in thought once again. " Huh?... What?! No I haven't! I'm the same person I always was! The kind of weak, desperate and pathetic person who would do anything to keep having friends! I go along with whatever they say and go along with whatever they do to keep them from becoming sick of me, and I don't care if that makes me the hero or the villain! I never did!... That's how I've always been! " Scourge rolled his eyes at that last sentence, remembering vividly how he could only convince Miles to lash out at criminals when he first knew him.

" I just want allies, emotional support, I'm not a hero if I have entirely selfish motivation. I'd fight for whatever cause they want me to, heroic or ' villainous. ' If you had been a hero, I would've gone along with it just to avoid being alone! I wouldn't have felt right about it at first, but I still- "

" At first? " Scourge deadpanned with a smug smirk and his arms crossed. Realizing what he admitted and implied, Miles stayed silent for a while before saying, " I, don't know why I said that… " Scourge, less lighthearted but still with a slight playfulness in his tone, said,

" Exactly. You're still the same person, obviously, but being around them is changing the way you look at things. Would you even feel right about going back to terrorizing the world with me? Or would you just remember how the Freedom Fighters would disapprove? " Still with his arms crossed, he gave him a doubtful and skeptical look as Miles' eyes darted around and he nervously insisted,

" Um… T-That doesn't mean anything, I just know what their opinions are, and since I'm around them so often, it's easy to be reminded of that. I just don't want them to disapprove of me and hate me and throw me out! That doesn't mean I care what they think! That doesn't mean they've changed who I am! "

Scourge rolled his eyes and said sarcastically with a smile, " Sure it doesn't. Keep telling yourself that. " " I will! " Miles said immediately. " Hey, anything to make you feel better about adjusting to this whole ' hero ' bullcrap. If it gets you happy and well-adjusted, finally, I'm all for it, " Scourge said cheerfully with a cocked eyebrow, as he turned around and started walking away from him into the distance.

" W-What are you doing? " Miles asked him as he left, full of anxiety that he tried to hide with annoyance and failed miserably. Scourge replied as he walked away casually, " Goin' home. All I came here to do was get ya back, but knowin' that you're happier here, there's no point. Enjoy your life with Sonic, bro! I'm goin' back to the world where I'm king! "

" You're… really leaving… " Miles whispered sadly looking stunned and almost in denial. Tears welled up in his eyes reducing his vision to a white blur, and he covered it up with intimidating anger once again, shouting, " Fine! Go then! Get out of my life! Leave me again! Damn it, damn it all! " As tears started running down his face at last and his body began to shake, he fell to his knees and covered his eyes with his hands sobbing as quietly as he possibly could, thinking, " _Why does it have to be this way?!_ " Hearing the familiar commotion behind him, Scourge hesitated awkwardly, and started walking away more slowly, forcing himself not to go back on his word and comfort him like he always had when it was hard enough to make that decision as it was.

" You okay?! " Scourge heard Sonic exclaim behind him, which made him jump startled and turn around to face him in an instant. He was afraid, terrified of the possibility that Sonic would get him sent back to prison once more, the possibility that had him swear off fighting with him again to avoid risking everything he had, determining that becoming the king of Moebius again was good enough for proving himself. He looked back at Miles and Sonic on edge prepared for the worst, only to see Sonic and Tails comforting Miles instead, with Sonic holding him close, just like he used to, as if he was his replacement.

Scourge watched from a distance at his most hated enemy hugging his little brother figure and caressing the back of his head just like he did, and at first, he growled irritated in a knee-jerk reaction at his good counterpart stealing Miles from him, thinking that he had no right to do that when it should've been him… but soon, he remembered what Miles had said about how becoming a Freedom Fighter had made him happier than he had ever been. He had finally gotten what he wanted, a world where people didn't hate him for having two tails, but instead liked and respected him along with a group of friends that were close enough to the Suppression Squad to be replacements. He had everything he ever dreamed of.

And while he still wished that Miles could go back to being just as close of a friend as he was when they first met, he realized that those days were over, and he owed it to him to let him move on to a happy life. He couldn't have that life with him, at least not if he stayed on Moebius and kept up his criminal ways, and joining Sonic himself wasn't something he would even consider doing. All that mattered was that Miles was alive, and for once, happy. Trying to take him back with him would only be pointless, and either ruin the life he had earned for himself or get Miles to defeat him in a fight for good, and even if he did get him back to Moebius, he would be miserable at best and quick to betray him at worst. Knowing that he had made the right decision in giving him permission to stay with Sonic, he smiled a little, turned right back around, and ran into the forest nearby at last.

When he ran up to Fiona in a green blur, he saw that she had been watching Miles through the bushes the entire time, and had eavesdropped on their entire conversation. She turned to him looking stunned at how he interacted with Miles, saying, " You forgave him so fast… " Being more confused about how to phrase it, she continued in shock, " And… he's been abandoned, too? Wow. Not to mention how people treated him… " She thought, " _I hate to say it, but he makes my past look… Well, not exactly good, but… Do I even have a right to complain about it anymore?_ "

Scourge was a little embarrassed at her witnessing his soft side so blatantly, but was in such a good mood that he shrugged it off and said, " Come on, Fi, let's go home. I don't need him! I'm awesome! " Reminded of why she found him so charming, Fiona giggled and rolled her eyes, before saying affectionately, " I love ya, " and kissing him on the cheek. With that, he lifted her into his arms and ran off to a safe place with her.

" You did the right thing, " Tails reassured Miles as he sat beside him, briefly stroking his shoulder as Sonic held him close. " You have no idea how hard it was for me to do that… " Miles whimpered, humiliated at crying in front of them again. " Were you and him ever close? " Sonic asked him gently, still stunned that Scourge had such a soft side. " YES! " Miles exclaimed tearfully, and continued hysterically,

" We were! We were inseparable, just like you and Tails!... When I was his only friend… I was his whole world… Sonic! Promise me you'll never abandon me! Promise me we'll be friends for the rest of my life! I don't want it to happen with us, too! "

Sonic understood exactly what he meant. He wanted him to replace Scourge's role in his life, and he was more than happy to officially do that for him. " I promise… " Sonic said seriously, vowing to be a positive influence on him. " You can have more than one brother, can't you? " Miles finally asked shyly, hoping it wouldn't ruin everything for him. Sonic replied, " Of course I can. I've had one for months! Right, Tails? " " Exactly! " Tails reassured him immediately, causing him to sigh with relief at his lack of objection, finally stop crying, and smile.

While a part of him wished he hadn't seen Scourge again and felt like it had only broken his heart again, the rest of him was incredibly thankful that he finally got to see him again for not only for the incredible catharsis of telling him off, but for the peace of mind he obtained in getting his blessing to stay with Sonic and live a happy life.

Sonic had been worried for multiple reasons when he was watching the two of them from the bushes, mainly because Miles showed a lot of signs of still having an evil side to him and needed to resist the urge to come back to Scourge just for the sake of it and leave him for Scourge, just like Fiona had. His comment about him wanting Scourge's world to burn for all he cared was particularly menacing, not to mention confusing since he had said revenge was pointless. But while he gave out mixed messages, in the end he revealed that the Freedom Fighters had given him more of a conscience, changing him for the better from their constant presence in his life, to the point where it seemed that he couldn't remember his crimes without thinking of how much they'd disapprove. While he was certainly a troubled child and still didn't quite care about the Freedom Fighter cause, he was coming around, and if what Scourge was saying was true, he was on his way to becoming happy and well-adjusted, just like Tails was.


	2. Chapter 2

Years after Miles had joined the Freedom Fighters, he still only rarely had to spend some time alone, and this was one of those times; with everyone else busy and him being finally fully trusted, he decided to spend some time at the Lake of Rings practicing his magic. This wasn't something he took seriously, as he knew he was powerful enough, so instead he saw it as just a way to have fun and show off, playing around with his wind and electricity powers, and if the few people in the park happened to walk by and stare, he knew they would be staring at his magic, and not just him. One of the people who witnessed his magic was Geoffrey. It had been a long time since he had trusted Ixis and made a mess of his life in the process, and after years of not really doing anything wrong since he quit being his apprentice, Nicole didn't see a problem to letting him in the nanite city, and he spent most of his time in Downunda, anyways. He was naturally stunned and impressed at seeing Miles' magic for the first time.

" Hey, kid, you making fireworks? " he said with a bit of a smile, and Miles, who wasn't used to strangers actually talking to him, looked behind him to see Geoffrey and replied casually, " Basically, " before looking back at the electricity in the sky that resembled firework shapes. Geoffrey was confused at his lack of a reaction to him, and walked closer to his side to talk to him better, saying, " You've never met me before, have you? I'm… " He hesitated a bit, before reluctantly admitting with a forced smile,

" I'm Geoffrey, St. John, and it's inspiring to me how much you've done for the Freedom Fighters! Considering your past, history with them. " Miles didn't recognize the name, let alone the appearance of the skunk Mobian, and said while waving his arms to move the wind like a conductor, " T-Thanks. I don't get people I don't know walking up to me and complimenting me very often. I get some smiles and waves every now and then, but usually it's just silence, people leave me alone. No offense. I'm just not social. I don't trust people very easily, if at all. "

The wind was visible in the sky as a stream of slightly blue-gray air, a natural result of wind magic by its users wanting to be able to actually see it, and it seemed to be creating lines in the sky with golden electricity above the Lake of Rings, showing an image of a thundercloud at one point.

Geoffrey responded unhappily, " I wish I was more like that. " Miles said in confusion, " Why? I mean, it keeps me safe, but social anxiety and shyness is more of a problem than a benefit for most people. Most people hated me when I was younger, but things are changing now and I still can't trust someone who's not already my friend. " Geoffrey asked, " Why are you being open and honest with me, then? I can't imagine the you from years ago would've talked about being shy to a stranger. "

" I dunno. I guess I opened up a little, after all this time of not needing to have my guard up. But what did you mean by that? Did you trust someone you shouldn't have once? " Miles said. Geoffrey looked uncomfortable and ashamed, and Miles added, " Not judging you or anything, since it'd be in the past anyways. "

" Y-yeah, but I'd rather not say who. The point is, it cost me. Dearly. W-Who taught you those powers, Miles? " Geoffrey replied awkwardly, and called him Miles instead of kid at the end for courtesy's sake, while thankful that no one else was in the park. " _I_ did, " Miles said sadly. Geoffrey looked stunned and exclaimed, " You didn't have a mentor?! " thinking back to how hard it was for him to learn even wind magic, and that was with help. The thought that Miles could become so good at his magic by himself left him flabbergasted at the thought.

" I _wish!_ " Miles replied, making Geoffrey cringe, and he continued while oblivious to his reaction, " It took me several years and getting really mad once to even realize I could control lightning consciously. I always had a weather sense, but I just assumed that everyone did, that it was only natural people could ascertain what the weather would be like in the next few days from feeling the humidity and whatnot in the air. It took Patch asking me if I'd seen the weather report for me to get I had such a connection to it, and that was long after Scourge was, you know, arrested, " Miles explained, feeling a little proud of himself for being able to have a natural conversation with a complete stranger without being nervous and paranoid of them the whole way through it.

Geoffrey, feeling a bit jealous and more amazed than that, said, " So you learned to be a master of the elements, all on your own?! " Deeply confused by that title, Miles said, " Huh? That title sounds a little bit familiar, " remembering the one time he dealt with Ixis by depowering him with Rotor's Scepter of Sealing, but because that was all he ever heard of him, he had long since forgotten his title and continued in confusion, " I dunno if I'm a master. Definitely of electricity, I've got that ' element ' down pat. What elements are you referring to? I have a feeling there's multiple different interpretations of how many and which ones count. " After all, it could be interpreted that there was up to 8 elements, more than just 4.

Geoffrey said, " I mean, fire, water, wind and earth, " stunned that Miles could be so good at magic moving electricity and wind around expertly, but still not know the basics of Ixis magic. He thought to himself, " _I'm looking at a real child prodigy here! No wonder he's so helpful to the Freedom Fighters! Good thing he's on their side._ "

Miles, still confused, explained innocently, " Well, let's see. I _hate_ fire. I-I don't wanna go into that. I can increase or decrease the temperature of a small region around me, making a heat wave, though, if that counts. I know I can make fire, but I don't want to. As for water, well, " and pushed his right hand forwards to send wind towards the water of the Lake of Rings, and created waves and ripples in it. He made a gale force wind bend down towards the water, go under it, and move upwards to send water out of it safely like a fountain in the center of the lake. Then he created a small thundercloud above the lake raining in it, and said,

" That's the extent of my water magic. That counts as controlling it, right? I don't see the value in it, though, because water by itself can't hurt any robots. It could drown them, but most of them are waterproof because common sense, especially after I came along and it started raining all the time. Uh, by coincidence of course. " He nervously lied at the last sentence, not ready to admit to a stranger that his presence increased the amount of rain in the city.

Geoffrey relaxed, and said, " So I guess you can't control earth, either? " with his arms crossed and a smile, reassured from his jealousy. Mildly annoyed, Miles insisted, " Sure I can! " and sent wind out of his palms to move the sandy soil on the edge of the Lake of Rings, sending it flying it around above the lake in a tiny sandstorm. Then he used his wind magic to make the sand form the image of two tails and a thundercloud above it, before quickly forming it into the sentence, " Sonic rules! Eggman drools! " and sending it back where it belonged. As Miles smiled in the cute way that Tails tended to and giggled a little, Geoffrey chuckled at his childlike innocence contrasting with his magical power, and said sarcastically, " Real mature! "

Miles reasoned, " Well, I'm having a lot more fun with life than when I was pretending to be mature, and I've been told I'm actually likable now, too, so better to enjoy what's left of my childhood while it lasts. I'm already a preteen, " and looked sad at how he wasted his whole childhood on Moebius, worrying that when he wouldn't be cute anymore, his charm would run out and he'd stop getting sympathy for his moments of weakness. No matter how much he was reassured otherwise.

Miles continued briefly looking over at Geoffrey's smile, " But anyways, see, I can control the earth, just indirectly. " Geoffrey snarked with a smirk, " You cheated with your wind magic, " and he replied, " So? Creates the same effect, doesn't it? " Geoffrey thought of how Ixis would've controlled the earth, and said, " Yeah, but you still can't make earthquakes, fissures, or reshape the earth in tunnels or the soil like Ixis, " and briefly his smile faltered as he worried that he'd figure out who he was from mentioning Ixis.

Instead, Miles said calmly, " I don't see much of a need for that when I'm already powerful enough. And the only time I'm around soil is in natural environments that the Freedom Fighters wouldn't want me to ruin with that anyways. " He then looked depressed and continued with his head hung low, " People already think I'm too powerful as it is. They always have, and I'd rather not go into how they treated me because of it, or what they used to call me, several years ago. I talk about myself too much as it is. "

He continued with a more confident smile moving golden electricity around above the lake while Geoffrey looked stunned, " I already have full mastery over electricity, anyways. My enemies can't even try to attack me unless I let them. My powers come from controlling the weather and everything that entails, I don't think I'm really a master of the elements and I don't need to be. Fire sucks, water's useless, and earth's too destructive as well. At least with the wind, I can move anything I want, and with electricity, anything with energy in it isn't a threat anymore. That's all I'll ever need. " Then he asked nonchalantly, " By the way, how'd some random civilian like you know about ' masters of elements, ' anyways? "

Geoffrey was taken by surprise and stammered briefly, knowing that Miles had a reputation for having a fiery temper against his enemies that even rivalled the likes of Eggman, and said, " Well, I have some powers of my own, is all. And luckily I use them to fight Robotnik as much as I can. " Miles looked over at him, and said nonchalantly, " Oh, so you're a hero? I wonder why my friends never mentioned you. Maybe I forgot, sorry. "

Geoffrey looked uncomfortable scratching the back of his head and said, " Uh, " and Miles then said casually with a smile, " Oh, redeemed former villain, then? Just like me. " Geoffrey looked surprised saying, " How'd you figure that out? " and he replied with an understanding smile, " I have the same awkward reaction, with how I used to live. Don't worry about it, I won't ask. " He couldn't believe Miles was being so calm and reasonable. He was known for the exact opposite.

Looking stunned, Geoffrey said, " Thanks… I wouldn't have expected, that, of… " " Of an evil twin? I get that a lot, " Miles responded. Geoffrey sighed, and admitted quickly, " I used to be taught by Ixis, okay? Then I realized how _hopeless_ he was and quit on him. Don't tell anyone we talked, alright, they'd completely overreact. I just heard about what a talented mage you were and wanted to see it in person. " Miles barely had a reaction to learning that, and said, " Oh, okay. " Still confused, Geoffrey asked, " You're not furious with me? I-I served King Max before I brought in _him!_ I thought I could get him to take out Robotnik and- "

Miles said calmly with a shrug, " I don't care, that was the past. Nothing in the past really matters. Aside from how it makes us feel when we remember it against our wills. I wish I could forget most of my memories, and maybe you can relate. As long as you've learned your lesson from life experience and getting more in touch with what you really want, who _cares?_ "

Then he admitted, " I'm not gonna pretend I'm completely tolerant, of course. I'm glad I didn't know you at first because I would've been a lot less polite otherwise. But from what I'm hearing, you're just another redeemed villain. And even the ' being a hero before that, ' thing, Fiona's that, too. From what Sally told me, she and Scourge became Freedom Fighters in another dimension for fun, and while they still do morally questionable things – Scourge wants to kill every Robotnik there is – they might as well admit they're heroes by now. It's the action that counts, not the intention. "

He shrugged, and then said, " Well, I think I've practiced enough today. I gotta go home before my _parents_ start worrying about me. Good luck on everything, " briefly shaking his hand as he looked confused before taking off at high speed with his wind magic, having a tornado behind and below his spinning tails and gale force winds blasting from his hands. Geoffrey sighed, relieved at how well things turned out, and muttered, " I'd better go home too and not push my luck. What a sweet kid. " As he left with his wind magic, Nicole came out from being a tree, having witnessed the whole thing as the AI running the city, and smiled.


End file.
